


Iris

by transkakashi



Series: Lightning's Legacy [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, I want to tag this as slice of life, M/M, Marriage, Mission Fic, Ninja Politics, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sensor Iruka, Slice of Life, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Trans Kakashi, emotionally driven not plot driven, except ninja slice of life involves killing people, multiple POVs, probably more violence than strictly necessary, seals master Iruka, small squishy pre-genin OCs, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2018-09-15 10:49:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 76,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9231542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transkakashi/pseuds/transkakashi
Summary: legacy/ˈlɛɡəsi/noun1.	An amount of money or property left to someone in a will2.	Something left or handed down by a predecessor3.	The sum of our parts: the lasting effect we have on others: what is left when we are gone(Or, the one where Kakashi and Iruka learn what it means to be together.)





	1. Purity

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to  HazelBeka, both for the encouragement, betaing and use of her OC, Miho. Without her, this story would be radically different. 
> 
> White Iris symbolises _purity._

Iruka knew the moment that Kakashi walked into the village, back from his two week long mission. The midday break between the morning and afternoon class was nearly over, but he hadn’t had any time to catch his breath – he was in the middle of trying to sort out an argument between two of his students when he felt a familiar chakra _ping_ on his internal network. He stilled and looked to the west to where he could feel Kakashi moving through Konoha, and something inside him relaxed that he hadn’t even known was coiled tight.

“…sei? Iruka-sensei?”

Iruka blinked and looked down at where Kenji was tugging on his shirt sleeve, obviously waiting for Iruka to tell Ren that Kenji was better with a kunai.

“I think that you’ll both just have to prove it next time we’re on the field. Let’s continue on with the set lesson, shall we?”

He sent them back off to their peers and then took in the rest of the grounds and the other children running around. While he walked around and talked to his students, a part of him was focused on the familiar ball of white chakra that Iruka could feel in the Hokage Tower. The green-blue spiky chakra that was Tsunade was with him, and when Iruka concentrated, he could feel several others he recognised there as well. Genma, and Shizune was at her ever present place at the Hokage’s side. There were a few more jounin in the Tower, as well as the sharp pinpricks of chakra that Iruka knew were the ANBU that guarded Tsunade. He hadn’t told anyone that he knew who they were under their masks because of their chakra, but he was sure that Tsunade suspected. The Hokage Tower was close enough to the Academy for him to make out who was inside it if he already knew their chakra, and he used that ability ruthlessly, especially when his students thought they could skip class and try to sneak into the Mission Room.

Satisfied that Kakashi wasn’t too injured, Iruka turned his attention to the playground. Shizume called for her class to come in, and his class followed when he waved them back towards the building. He did a quick scan for any kids that might be trying to hide outside and not go back to class, and blinked when he felt a small white chakra pulsing with distress, just behind a few trees that would hide his student from his sight. Moving towards it, he rounded the trees and came face to face with Airi. She was the youngest of the class that he taught now, a few weeks off turning ten. Despite being the youngest, however, she managed to be one of the biggest troublemakers.  And currently, she appeared to be very stuck.

“Airi-chan,” Iruka said, taking a breath to try and look like he was feeling patient and understand when really he had had more than enough of his class’s antics. “What, exactly, are you doing?”

Airi froze, and Ichimaru whimpered softly, looking up with her large (literal) puppy eyes. She tucked a stray piece of her wild, grey hair behind her ear in an attempt to buy some time before she answered. The breeze was blowing it around, and a leaf swirled past Iruka’s head.

“Umm…” The young girl looked around, trying to figure out any excuse for her current predicament.

Ichimaru darted around to the other side of her partner, and let out a bark. Her black and white tail was down and she looked like she wanted to do anything to help her human companion get out of the predicament she was in.

“And what are you sitting in?”

Airi bit her lip and cast a look up at him, trying to convey innocence that Iruka didn’t believe for one moment.

Iruka looked at the – sludge that she was currently stuck in. It was dark, and by the way Airi was trying to move, it was apparently very, very sticky.

Airi muttered something, her dark eyes lowered. Unlike most of her clan, her pupils weren’t slitted; one of her parents mustn’t have been an Inuzuka.

“Hmm? What was that?”

Airi sighed. “Ren-kun dared me to talk to Shikaru-chan, because he _knows_ that I like her, so I went over, but I couldn’t think of anything to say so I just punched her instead, and Akane-chan said that she had had enough of me punching Shikaru-chan, and _then_ she did a jutsu, which _isn’t fair_ because you say we shouldn’t use jutsu against our comrades and she _did_ and then Ichimaru got out of the way but I got stuck in this… stuff.”

It was done quickly and all in one breath, and Iruka simply looked at her. She was blushing and looking at her feet, but the tilt of her lips told him that she wouldn’t have an issue with telling him what she thought if he questioned her statement.

Iruka turned his attention to the jutsu that was holding her. The chakra in it was shaky, but wasn’t bad for an eleven year old. Akane’s ability with binding jutsu was increasing; he’d have to find her a tutor that specialised in sealing. He knew more than enough to teach her what she needed to know, but his time was stretched already.

“I’m surprised that you haven’t been able to get out of it yourself,” Iruka said, keeping his tone level. No matter how disappointed he was with Akane, he wasn’t going to take that out on Airi.

Airi shrugged. “I tried a few things but I think this is Akane’s clan jutsu. If only I’d been quicker…” She lamented, trailing off. Her years running after both the humans and dogs that she lived with in the Inuzuka Compound had gifted her with fairly quick reflexes, and a speed that would probably only increase as she grew. She was smaller than her classmates now, but that along with her speed would only be rectified with time.

“Push your chakra out into the sap,” Iruka said. Airi pulled a face, and Iruka saw her chakra sharpen as she concentrated on it. “Now focus it with Horse, Ram, Dog, and _push_ the chakra inside the sap away.”

It was a simple technique that he would teach Airi’s class in a few more weeks. When Airi’s hands formed the _Ram_ , her chakra sparked and the bindings around her feet fell apart before she completed the _Dog._ Iruka shook his head to clear it of the residue lightning chakra as Airi launched herself out of the puddle.

“Thanks, Iruka-sensei,” she beamed. Ichimaru barked happily, and she ducked so that the dog could jump onto Airi’s head. Airi pulled her hood up to cover her head and the puppy, as she followed Iruka back towards the classroom. “Hey, will Akane-chan get in trouble because of this?”

“Yes, I will be speaking to Akane-chan,” Iruka said. Now that she was free, Airi seemed happy enough. Iruka suspected the panic in her chakra that he had used to find her had been because she hadn’t been able to move; for Airi, the sticky residue on her clothes and sandals probably didn’t worry her at all. Iruka suspected she had to deal with far worse at home; the Inuzuka Clan were not known for their cleanliness.

“Awesome,” Airi muttered. “That’ll teach her.”

Iruka cornered Akane as soon as he settled the rest of the class in for the afternoon lesson. He gave Akane a lecture on using jutsu where he couldn’t see, and against her classmates, no less. Akane looked remorseful, but she still stuck her chin out and defended herself. “I was just defending Shikaru-chan! Airi-chan always punches her, and I don’t know why!”

Iruka resisted the urge to sigh. Airi had a terribly sincere crush on Shikaru, but he wasn’t sure telling Akane that was the best idea.

“Airi-chan just wants to be friends with Shikaru-chan, but she isn’t sure how to. She sees you, Shikaru-chan and Chouko-chan, and doesn’t know how to talk with you all.”

Akane scowled and crossed her arms. “I’d rather be friends with Ichimaru-chan than Airi-chan! At least Ichimaru-chan has a reason for smelling like a dog, and she can run fast when we play tag.”

“Akane-chan, you cannot use jutsu to get back against your classmates,” Iruka told her quietly, looking the young girl in the eye. “And Airi-chan has trouble fitting in here. Her home is very different from this classroom, as well as everyone being older than her. Even if she did punch Shikaru-chan, there is absolutely no reason for you to have attacked her in turn. She is a fellow member of the Hidden Leaf, and one of your future comrades. There is no excuse for turning against her.”

Akane looked away, but Iruka could see doubt crossing her eyes.

“Promise me that you’ll try to be friends?” Iruka coaxed. Akane reluctantly nodded, and Iruka sent her back to her seat to then deal with the growing noise near the front of the class.

Iruka settled his class down into the afternoon lesson on Kirigakure and its history. While he talked to his students and handed them all worksheets, a part of him was keeping a tab on Kakashi – he was still in the Hokage Tower, probably going through a debrief. Airi seemed unharmed from earlier, her chakra as changeable as it usually was, sparkling white and vibrant all over the place. If Iruka had to choose someone to compare it to, the closest he would have to say it would be Kakashi; he had no doubt that Airi would be utilising lightning chakra in the future. Ichimaru’s soft and unformed chakra was still next to her, the puppy sleeping on the desk while Airi scribbled away at the paper in front of her.

Akane was sitting next to Akimichi Chouko in the middle row of the classroom. The chakra of the two girls was calm, although the constant swirling of Chouko’s showed in how she reached into her pocket to nibble on whatever snack she had in there today.

Nara Shikaru, the object of this afternoon’s drama, was sitting closest to the window. She was staring outside, eyes half closed, occasionally writing something down on the paper in front of her. Iruka looked down at the paper that she had slipped on to his desk at the beginning of the day. Iruka gave her difficult Sudoku puzzles to solve, and in return she also tackled the situations that he gave her. He had written them out in ways to make them seem innocuous, but most of the ones that he gave her were from advanced A Rank scrolls that ANBU in-training used to study attack patterns and formations. Most of what she came up with was fairly standard, but sometimes he found himself shaking his head over her answers – he would have never thought of some of her solutions. She reminded him of Shikamaru sometimes, but most of the time not; while Shikamaru was undeniably brilliant, even when he’d been in the Academy, Shikaru was bright but still had a ways to go. She didn’t laze about as he had done either – all her work was always completed on time. They did, however, share the Nara tendency to daydream while he was teaching. Iruka was fairly certain that it was because a classroom environment hadn’t been good for either of them, but at least Shikaru came to all of his lessons.

The girls had all grouped themselves up the back of the class, which was unusual. Most of the time, Iruka had the boys up the back, but this class dynamic just led to this type of classroom.

In the first two rows, the six boys that made up the rest of the class were silently writing, scowling at the paper in front of them or kicking each other under the desks. Now that Iruka had finally gotten them all to fall quiet, they knew that he would come down hard on the first one to talk.

He looked out the window when Kakashi’s chakra started moving. It had lost its bright definition as it left his immediate range, but because he knew it so well, he could track it easily enough, even from the other side of the village. Others that he didn’t know so well tended to fade, unless their chakra was particularly unique – Iruka had never once lost track of Naruto while he had been in the village, which was why he had usually been the first one to find him after one of his pranks. It was all a matter of catching up to him; Naruto could really move when he wanted to. Of course, using Naruto as an example was perhaps a bit biased. Even now, if Iruka concentrated, he could feel where the young ninja was. The last time he’s checked up on him, he’d been in the Land of Wind.

Iruka tensed when it moved to the hospital, but Kakashi just jumped up and stayed for a few minutes before leaving again. Iruka closed his eyes and focused enough to feel Kurenai’s chakra in the room he had been in. Iruka frowned as he looked out the window towards the hospital. Kurenai must have been injured on the mission. Kakashi dropped to ground level and made his way through the streets of Konoha, chakra mingling with all the other ninja in Konoha. While most of the time it was fairly overwhelming to have the chakra of an entire ninja village pressing down on him, Iruka had learned to manage it over the years.

“Is everything alright, Iruka-sensei?”

Iruka looked back inside the classroom. Ryuu was looking at him, concern in his eyes. Iruka smiled at him, but he was sure his worry was showing. Kurenai tutored Ryuu in his fledgling genjutsu abilities.

“I hope so, Ryuu-kun.”

“What does that mean, Iruka-sensei?” Ryuu asked, tilting his head.

“It _means_ that Iruka-sensei felt someone get hurt!” Kenji hissed. He reached down to grab the katana sitting beside him and scowled. “I’ll fight any enemies that come along to hurt anyone!”

“Iruka-sensei’s ability shouldn’t be trumpeted about lightly,” Yuuki said lowly, a beetle scuttling across his cheek to hide in his hair. “Ninja abilities should be secret.”

“Yeah, then why do you keep putting bugs in everyone’s food?” Kenji scowled. Yuuki’s eyes glowed in amusement and Iruka fought the urge to hit something.

“I _am_ a sensor type ninja, and you’re right Yuuki, you shouldn’t talk about the abilities of other ninja. It’s impolite and could be dangerous to the village. I think that you should visit Kurenai-sensei after school, Ryuu-kun.” He wouldn’t tell him that Kurenai was in hospital when he wasn’t completely sure ( _you’re completely sure_ , a part of him says. _You felt the damaged edge to her chakra, and when are you wrong?_ )

Ryuu grinned and went back to writing at his paper furiously, as if that would make the end of the day come more quickly.

Iruka started to gather those papers that were ready, and didn’t try to fight it as his class descended into chaos as the day started to draw to a close.

“Alright!” Iruka yelled over the top of the noise after he’d collected all their papers. “Class is over, get here on time tomorrow!”

There was a rush of noise and Iruka stood stunned for several seconds until his classroom was left empty.

“You got rid of the ankle biters for the day?”

Iruka turned to smile at the man perched in his window. Kakashi looked tired, but he’d changed his clothes and smelt freshly showered.

“Yes, they’re gone. Left me a pile of marking though,” Iruka replied as he gathered the papers on his desk to shove into his bag. “You’re early. I didn’t expect you until Thursday.”

“Maa, the client overestimated the time it would take. We still get paid for the extra days though, so I’m not complaining.”

Iruka tidied what was on his desk and locked the door to the classroom, more out of habit than necessity. He crossed the room to Kakashi and stood in front of him, not reaching out to the jounin. He was always careful around Kakashi when he came back from a mission. Ninja snapped all the time, and he didn’t want to trigger something in Kakashi when he could avoid it.

Kakashi grabbed his arm, and Iruka stepped forward when he tugged. Kakashi carefully settled his head on Iruka’s shoulder, and Iruka read the tiredness in the gesture. Even if he would never admit it, Kakashi worried about others when he was on missions, and that exhausted him just as much as any actual fighting. Iruka slowly wrapped an arm around him and looked at his chakra. It wasn’t as bright as it normally was, but it was still steady. If it had been anyone else, Iruka would have said that it was complete, but he’d seen Kakashi’s chakra when he had been fully rested, and it made Iruka catch his breath every time. It nearly shone as brightly as Naruto’s did. Iruka leaned over and left a chaste kiss on his masked lips, which of course meant that Kakashi had to yank down his mask to kiss him more deeply. Iruka savoured the sensation of closeness before pulling back to complete his check.

The red of the Sharingan was duller than its normal ominous glow. It looked out of place in Kakashi’s white silver chakra.

“Is Kurenai-sensei alright?”

Kakashi let out a huff, rolling a shoulder and tugging his mask back into place. “She took a kunai to the shoulder while she was casting her genjutsu. Cracked her collarbone and was closer to the heart than either she or I are comfortable with.”

“And you didn’t overuse the Sharingan, did you?”

“You’d be able to see that, sensei,” Kakashi admonished. “Why even ask?”

“I just want to make sure,” Iruka told him. “Let’s go. I can make dinner, and you can sit on my couch and pretend you’re not sleeping. Sound good?”

Kakashi grunted, which Iruka took for a yes. As they jumped from rooftop to rooftop, Iruka watched his partner, not bothering to be subtle about it. Kakashi would know either way.

“Quit staring, Iruka. I’m not going anywhere tonight,” Kakashi drawled. Iruka flushed as they landed outside his apartment.

Iruka weaved the hand seals needed and unlocked the chakra pattern on his wards. He didn’t bother with the extra seals – he was wearing the necklace that would let him through the latent wards, and Kakashi had put the small charm on the same chain as his dog tags, which he never took off. Wearing the charms meant that Iruka could guard against anyone impersonating those he trusted enough to let into his apartment regularly; aside from him and Kakashi, only Naruto owned one.

Iruka went around and lowered the blinds on all his windows, checking them all to make sure the wards were high and tight. He could see the chakra running through them cleanly, and he fed more into them, to replace what had been lost during the day and to bolster them. He’d been doing that every day since they’d lasted been broken five years ago, which meant that the person who tried to come in without the appropriate hand seals would receive one hell of a reaction.

He stepped back from the window and took a steadying breath. He usually put as much chakra as he was comfortable with into the wards, which meant that he always slept well. With the reduced chakra, the range of the coloured sparks around Konoha decreased drastically, leaving him with just the block of his apartment rather than the whole town. Iruka relaxed, and turned to face Kakashi again, who glowed softly now, a banked fireplace to get through the night.

“What do you want to eat?” Iruka asked him. “There’s some leftover soup in the fridge that should be enough for both of us, if you want.”

“That’s fine,” Kakashi said. Iruka crossed to the kitchen, watching out of the corner of his eye as Kakashi tugged his flak vest off and hung it up next to the door. His numerous weapons pouches were next, followed with Kakashi taking his sandals off to step into the apartment proper. “We didn’t get a chance to eat much today. Just focused on getting back quickly.” Iruka took _We didn’t get a chance to eat much_ to mean _we ate nothing at all,_ and adjusted his serving to a more appropriate size. Kakashi finally toed off his sandals and was left in minimum gear and no weapons that Iruka could see still on him.

It had been a shock, of sorts, when Iruka had first seen Kakashi like this. The first two times that it had happened Iruka had held his breath to see if the wild creature in his home wouldn’t run away because he had startled it. Kakashi looked odd without his vest and weapons, but it made Iruka feel good. Trusted.

“Alright, I’ll just heat it up then.” Iruka turned his stove on and set up the soup. He felt Kakashi move through his home silently and settle onto the couch. Iruka watched as he tilted his head back and his eye closed. His chakra spiked, and Iruka knew that even though his eyes were closed, he was still keeping a watch on his surroundings. Iruka would chastise him for it, except he knew that it was instinctive – Kakashi probably didn’t even realise he was doing it.

Iruka stirred the soup and let Kakashi wind down. He’d spent a lot of time convincing Kakashi that his apartment was a safe space – although Iruka had a sneaking suspicion that it had more to do with the deadly wards that were laced through the walls than anything else.

He poured the soup into two bowls and stepped into the lounge, careful to make sure his steps were audible. Kakashi cracked an eye and accepted the bowl, blowing on the surface lightly before taking a sip.

Iruka told him about the dramas of the day and his students, quietly filling the spaces that Kakashi left in the conversation. It was early to eat food, but Kakashi needed it. Coming off a mission and coming home to have a good meal was just another way shinobi differentiated between active and non-active status. Sometimes Iruka wondered if that was the reason why the ration bars tasted so nasty.

“Tsunade told me that she’s got another mission lined up,” Kakashi told him when Iruka took his empty bowl away from him.

Iruka paused. “Already? You only just came back from this one.” And the one before that, and the one before that. Kakashi was overworked, and it Iruka could see it in the way his shoulders drooped and the tired acceptance in his voice as told Iruka that he _another_ mission with his name on it.

Kakashi shrugged. “This one didn’t tire me out. Juuna looked at my chakra reserves and said that I should be fine after a solid night’s sleep.” He looked tired enough. Iruka could tell that he was having a hard time not lying down on his couch and going to sleep right then.

“Tsunade say how long it’ll be?” Iruka posed the question carefully. It was their unspoken way of communicating mission ranks, even though strictly they weren’t supposed to.

Kakashi stayed silent until Iruka crossed to his side. Kakashi took his hand and traced a letter onto his palm at the same time he pulled his mask down with his other hand to kiss him. Iruka leaned back after a few seconds to frown at Kakashi. Kakashi tried to smile at him, but Iruka could see something dark lurking in his eye. Iruka squeezed his hand and kissed him again.

“Come on. We should start the solid night’s sleep,” Iruka commented, stepping backwards towards his bedroom.

“Hmm, there’s still an activity or two to do before that,” Kakashi rumbled.

Iruka flushed. “Why do you think I’m suggesting we start now?”

Kakashi huffed out a laugh. “I like it when you get bossy, sensei,” he said as he let himself be pulled towards the hallway.

Iruka felt his blush deepen as he closed his door behind them.

 

* * *

 

Iruka stirred when Kakashi slipped out of his bed. Kakashi ambled around Iruka’s bedroom, collecting his fallen clothes, in no rush to leave. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the moon had set, leaving the room lit by the light of his clock. Kakashi wrapped clean bandages from Iruka’s closet around his legs, and then pulled his binder on over his head. He slipped on the clothes that he kept in the closet before going out the door, leaving it open a crack behind him.

Iruka sucked in a breath and got up himself, putting on his uniform before following Kakashi out to the kitchen. The jounin was sitting in front of a bowl without his hitai-ate on, white hair spilling everywhere. His mask was around his neck and he was supporting his head on one hand, covering his left eye with his fingers. The other was holding a scroll in his hand, and he was studying it intently. Iruka could feel the binding laying latent in the paper, and knew that it must be the S class mission that Kakashi had been given.

“I have to leave today, but not until later,” Kakashi murmured.

“I’ve got class today,” Iruka told him. “You can come by and see the kids, if you want.”

“Ah, see the drama up close,” Kakashi smiled.

Iruka carefully detoured around the table in the middle of his kitchen so that he wouldn’t go near the scroll. Kakashi kept scanning it while Iruka made tea and sorted his documents for the day, and started reading the papers that he’d taken in yesterday.

Kakashi rolled up the scroll and sealed it again with a snap. Iruka stretched his shoulders and took a sip of tea as he crossed out a sentence on a scroll. Where did his students come up with these sorts of things? As Kakashi moved from the kitchen bench, Iruka studied him covertly. The mournful red of the Sharingan was as disturbing as it normally was, and Kakashi’s chakra was leaping and sparking. Iruka would call it normal if he didn’t know better. Kakashi was still tired. He needed more than a night’s rest between missions, but Iruka knew that he wouldn’t want to hear that. Iruka heard him moving around, zipping up his flak vest and strapping on his weapons pouches. Iruka picked up his hitai-ate from the kitchen counter and handed it to him when he came for it. Kakashi tied it over his eye and tucked his hands into his pockets, ready to leave.

“I’ll come and see you before I go,” Kakashi promised, as he unlocked the door and stepped outside.

Iruka looked at the closed door and sighed.

 

* * *

 

“Iruka-sensei, what’s the graduating exam going to be on?”

“You know I can’t tell you that, Inori-kun,” Iruka scolded. “You just have to study hard and you can pass. Now, I don’t see those answers on your sheet, do I?”

Inori frowned and Kenji elbowed him in the side. Iruka looked over the class in front of him. Most of the kids were eleven or twelve, but there were two ten year olds. He didn’t think that any of them wouldn’t pass this year. Some of them had been in his class from last year, and he had been surprised that they hadn’t passed their last exam. They would all be ready this time. The only one he was uncertain about was Hanabi, but he was sure that the Hyuuga Clan would approve of her taking the final exam, even though she was younger than normal. It wasn’t something that Iruka could control, and it made him angry, even though he knew it was the way of things. Tsunade had passed an edict last year saying that no ninja could leave the Academy without being at least ten years old, and Iruka had celebrated it, along with his other Academy instructors. But he had still read through the exceptions on the edict, and known that if she wanted to, Tsunade could pass anyone. But it gave Iruka something to work with, even if he thought the age of graduation should be pushed higher.

It was a start, though. Something to build on, and that’s what was needed.

Iruka looked up as Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves on the windowsill. Iruka had left the window open for exactly that reason and he ignored his class’s impressed sounds as he crossed the room.

“Target’s leaving sooner than expected,” Kakashi murmured, so quietly that Iruka was almost unable to hear him, even though he was so close. “I’ve got to go now.”

“Alright,” Iruka said back, just as quietly. Kakashi reached for his hand, and Iruka squeezed it tightly. Kakashi cast a look over his class, who were staring at the two of them intently, before turning back to Iruka.

“Take care of yourself,” Kakashi said. His hands moved to form a hand seal before he disappeared again.

“Take care of _yourself_ ,” Iruka muttered to the empty air in front of him. He rubbed his palm, still able to feel the S and the question mark tingling where Kakashi had traced them.

“Who was _that_?” Airi said, dark eyes wide, looking suitably impressed with the jutsu Kakashi had used.

“And how did he disappear?” Akane added, staring at the space Kakashi had just vanished from.

“That’s the shunshin jutsu,” Shikaru said, sounding like she didn’t know how anyone wanting to be a ninja couldn’t know about such a common technique. “It’s just really fast jumping. That’s what Shikamaru-niisan told me.”

“Yes, that’s right, Shikaru-chan. The Body Flicker Technique is used by jounin class ninja to move very quickly when they want to. However, it probably uses more chakra than any one of you possess by yourselves, so I wouldn’t recommend you using it for another few years yet.”

“Tell us more, Iruka-sensei!” Ryuu chimed in.

“Yes, sensei, tell us more!”

“How does it work?”

“Can you do it?”

Iruka sighed as an onslaught of questions assailed him. The lesson plan for the afternoon was discarded as he started writing about the jutsu on the board – after all, if his students wanted to learn something, he wasn’t going to dissuade them.

 

* * *

 

“Do you think there was something off about that?” Airi asked Shikaru. “Iruka-sensei looks sad.” The younger girl folded her hands together before she unfolded them again nervously. She’d been doing that all day, and it was starting to get on Shikaru’s nerves. Airi grabbed her pencil from where it was tucked on top of her ear. Her grey hair fell over her face; she absently shoved it back into place while she chewed on the pencil. Shikaru could tell that she was tense, for some reason. Akane had dragged Airi over yesterday and sat her down with them, which was out of the ordinary. Akane didn’t really like Airi. It might have something to do with what Iruka-sensei had been saying to her yesterday after Akane had trapped the Inuzuka with her sap. Iruka-sensei was like that, always wanting them to be friends with each other.

Shikaru shrugged. “I couldn’t see what the masked guy was saying ‘cause he had the mask on, but Iruka-sensei told him to take care of himself after he disappeared.” She added a few more lines to the diagram she was drawing to make her point on the puzzle Iruka-sensei had given her clearer.

“Did you see them holding hands?” Akane added. She was looking towards Iruka with a pensive expression.

“Well, they’re probably like, dating,” Shikaru drawled, finishing the diagram. She tilted her head to the side and rested her head on her hand. “Or whatever adults call it. Shikamaru-niisan told me that he and Temari-san aren’t dating, which is a total lie. I’ve seen them kissing three times.”

“Why do you even care?” Chouko asked. She grabbed another peanut from her pocket to eat. “They’re, you know, adults.”

“But what if that guy hurts Iruka-sensei?” Akane hissed. As one, the four girls turned to look to where Iruka was yelling at Yuuki for throwing a paper plane filled with stink bugs at Ren.

“I don’t want _anything_ to hurt Iruka-sensei,” Shikaru said solemnly. “He gives me fun puzzles.”

“We have to find out who that guy is,” Airi said. “And make sure that he isn’t going to hurt Iruka-sensei!”

“He looked kinda familiar,” Chouko hummed. “I reckon I’ve seen him around before.”

“Yeah, I think I have as well,” Shikaru said to them all. “Okay guys. Mission: Find the White Haired Ninja starts as of now!”

 

* * *

 

Kakashi ducked behind a tree and formed the hand seal for the detonation of the exploding tags.

There was a loud blast from behind him, and he waited for it to die down before moving, jumping to the next tree over, hoping that it hadn’t been unbalanced in the explosion. The Iwa nin he was fighting had sent off a flare, and the red was still hanging in the sky above them, clearly showing their position. Kakashi needed to move, but he had to kill the nin first – she was the one who had the scroll, the other ninja with her distracting Kakashi one by one. His hand was dripping with blood from his last raikiri, and he could feel the heart of the kunoichi who had been last to sacrifice herself bursting in his hand when he squeezed. She must have been the medic of the troop – he’d been slowed down for a whole seven seconds while he killed her. He’d stayed long enough to burst her heart and feel her last exhale of breath before withdrawing his fist and leaping after the leader of the troop.

The casual way that the cell leader had sacrificed her teammates galled him. Kakashi tunnelled more chakra into his feet and launched himself after the last ninja, blood drying on his skin and lightning ready to crackle to life in his palm.

He landed in a clearing behind the Iwa nin, and she jerked to a stop to slowly turn to face him. He knew he must make quite a sight – he was covered in blood, his hitai-ate was up, and Obito’s eye was spinning lazily in his head, ready to watch him kill again. He sometimes wondered if Obito would be upset with how he used his eye, but those weren’t thoughts for the battlefield. He could talk to Obito about it when he got home.

“Leave, Konoha-nin, and I won’t kill you,” she growled, voice low and husky.

Kakashi didn’t bother replying. His hands flew through _Ox_ , _Rabbit_ , _Monkey_ , and blue lightning sparked and crackled around his hand. The ninja’s eyes narrowed and Kakashi watched her move her own hands. He didn’t recognise the jutsu she was about to use, but he knew that if he killed her before she got through her hand seals, he wouldn’t have to worry about the outcome of her seals.

He darted forward, raikiri sparking, but she finished her hand seals a second too soon. Kakashi rammed into an earthen wall that had come up between them. He yanked his arm out, but the raikiri was gone, absorbed into the earth.

Kakashi leapt over the wall to find that the nin had disappeared. He flicked his eyes around the small clearing, to try to pinpoint her location. The trees were simply their normal, glowing green, so he looked down at the ground.

Her chakra was spread throughout the earth at his feet. Kakashi immediately went to jump off and into the trees, but when he tried to move, his feet wouldn’t budge from where they were planted.

A soft laugh echoed through the trees, and Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he examined the chakra network that was binding him. The chakra was wound around the network in his feet, meaning that he’d have to cut them off if he wanted to escape without undoing the jutsu. The alternative was to kill the jutsu caster. He hadn’t seen her weave the signs for this, the earthen wall blocking his line of sight, so he couldn’t copy it. His mind clicked into high gear, assessing the situation. Clearly, this woman was much more of a threat than her counterparts had been.

“You didn’t leave, and now you’re dead. You just don’t know it yet.”

Kakashi turned his body to look at where she was, leaning against a tree. She looked regretful.

“I wouldn’t count me out just yet,” Kakashi murmured. The chakra network only extended so far. And it didn’t bind his arms, so it was just his feet he couldn’t move. He could still weave signs. A massive advantage for him.

His normal earth jutsu probably wouldn’t work with her chakra directly below him, so he’d have to go for lightning. Even though lightning was weak to earth, he’d just have to strike first, fatally, before she tried anything.

The ninja took out a few kunai, Kakashi having already thought out a plan in the time that it took for her to move. The chakra in his feet started creeping higher, but Kakashi watched the obvious strain it was taking on her. The area that was inundated with her chakra decreased significantly as he lost all feeling in his knees.

Kakashi flipped the scroll holder on his vest open just as she sent a few kunai towards him. So the plan was to bleed him from a distance. He bit his thumb and snarled as three kunai sliced through his lower legs.

The chakra pinning him raced upwards as she figured out that he was doing something, but she didn’t reach his arms in time. Kakashi swiped his blood across the scroll and flicked it up in the air, hands going through hand seals quickly before he grabbed it again. He saw the ninja jump away from him, but he had her scent – it was how he’d been tracking them in the first place. She wouldn’t get away.

Kakashi released the jutsu, and a pack of dogs burst into existence in front of him, sparking violently as they swirled through the air. The lightning pack didn’t touch the ground, running through the trees and then doubling back to charge after the ninja.

Kakashi felt the chakra drain out of him, more quickly the further away his pack got. The chakra holding him still disappeared, and he launched himself after his dogs. He jumped through the trees and felt a shiver ripple across his skin as lightning dispersed through the forest.

He landed in a small space between a few trees and looked at the corpse on the ground. His pack was probably back in their den, sleeping off their workout.

She’d been ripped to pieces, but thankfully the scroll in her pocket was only bloodstained, not torn to fragments. Kakashi picked it up and then leaped into the trees, ignoring the screeching pain in his lower legs. The nin had cut fairly deeply into his legs, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been; the tendons weren’t touched. It still hurt like hell though. He was fairly certain that it was willpower alone that was allowing him to run. Kakashi stopped when he was just over two clicks away from the body, still aware of the flare smoke hanging in the sky above the battlefield. He didn’t retrace the roundabout route the chase had led them through, instead heading directly south west. As soon as he got back within the borders of the Land of Fire he’d be safer. Iwagakure was unlikely to launch an assault over the border. They still remembered the last war, probably more than Konoha did.

He did some field patching on his legs, but knew that he’d have to see someone about them as soon as he got back to the village. Until then, he popped a single painkiller, not wanting more to dull his senses too much. The drug would hopefully numb his legs while he ran.

Kakashi looked through the trees as he finished tying the last bandage. It would take too long to get back, for him. It was always too long, but Iruka wouldn’t know when to expect him back, so Kakashi didn’t want to keep him waiting.

He shook his head. He never let himself think about Iruka on missions; the other man was as good a distractor as any drug.

Kakashi looked up to the sky to judge his direction, and started the trek back towards the village.

 

* * *

 

Shikaru lifted a hand to cover her mouth as she yawned. The five Sudoku puzzles that she’d brought with her were already finished, as well as some of the situations that she also solved grudgingly to get more Sudoku. They’d both been done for nearly an hour. The white haired ninja was yet to be spotted.

On the day that they’d seen him, Shikaru had gathered her squad to discuss how to track down the ninja. She’d decided that him coming around to say goodbye to Iruka-sensei while he was teaching meant that he was going on a mission, probably one that would take a while. So she’d waited for three weeks before insisting on their watch schedule.

It was rather awful, really. They had to be in class for several hours most days, with no one watching the Mission’s Room. And Iruka-sensei was _in_ the Mission’s Room, handing out missions, on the weekends. They couldn’t risk him seeing them, not without him asking why they were there.

Shikaru had implemented a schedule after three weeks had passed, watching the Mission’s Room for every minute they could between the four of them. They had the weekends mostly covered. The others, deciding that this was training for future stakeouts, had obliged when she put them on a roster. But it had been two weeks, and so far, nothing. Five weeks since she had seen the white haired ninja, and she was beginning to think that some of the others were losing interest. She couldn’t have that. Not if she wanted the mission to succeed.

She narrowed her eyes. Wait… She had been thinking about this wrong. It was like one of the puzzles Iruka-sensei gave her. If one approach didn’t work, then you have to try another.

The white haired ninja had come to say goodbye to Iruka-sensei. He would likely come and say hello as well. But she needed an excuse to go into the Mission’s Room – she wasn’t even a genin yet, she had no reason to be in there…

Shikaru looked down at the finished Sudoku puzzles in her hand and smiled.

Wandering into the Mission Room, she tried not to stare. Everyone inside was just so tall! And they were mostly wearing the standard mission gear, either looking rough and dirty, asleep on their feet, or fresh and ready to head out to help Konoha.

At the start of the line Iruka-sensei was yelling at a scared looking chuunin. Shikaru had thought that it had been noisy when she was listening to it across the street, but inside it was so much louder.

“ _What_ , exactly, is the _meaning_ of this?” Iruka-sensei screamed at the chuunin in front of him, brandishing a report that looked like it’d been chewed on and was stained a rusty colour that Shikaru was fairly certain was blood.

Shikaru gulped and went to sit down on one of the seats that ringed the room, tucking her feet up under her so it wouldn’t be so obvious that her feet didn’t touch the ground.

“What’cha doing here, Shikaru-chan?”

Shikaru jumped and looked at who she’d sat next to. Shikamaru was staring at her with droopy eyes, looking completely bored. Shikaru tried not to blush; she hadn’t even noticed her cousin when she’d sat next to him! Some ninja she was going to be.

“Umm…” Shikaru stumbled, before latching onto her already made cover story. “Iruka-sensei gives me puzzles to solve. I just wanted to know if he had any more, since I won’t see him until tomorrow otherwise.”

Shikamaru stared at her before sighing. “Let me look.”

Shikaru gave the crumbled paper in her hands over to her cousin. Shikamaru flipped through them, uninterested, until he came to the reports at the back. He started to read through the first one of those, one of his eyebrows slowly lifting.

“You could have moved your first platoon here instead and finished the battle before it even started,” Shikamaru told her, pointing to one of her diagrams. “It has a few midrange fighters in it that could have taken out the short rangers of the opposition. Your men could have taken the high ground quickly and if you’d moved your long range troops up to support them, they could have controlled the battlefield from the high ground. Your way works, but mine would have cost less lives.”

“Huh?” Shikaru asked, confused. It wasn’t something that happened often, but it always seemed to happen around her family. It was something she didn’t like about interacting with other Nara’s. “Platoons? Troops? They’re just pieces, Shikamaru-niisan.”

Her cousin looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Shikaru, these are battlefield manoeuvres. High level ones, by the look of it. A Rank, at the very least.”

“What?” Shikaru asked, eyes widening as she looked at the scrolls with new eyes. “Am I even allowed to see those?”

“It looks like Iruka-sensei transcribed them so it just looked like a game to solve. Kakashi-sensei probably grabbed them for him. Or Iruka-sensei could have probably found them himself. He has a pretty high clearance.”

“Kakashi-sensei?” Shikaru asked, trying not to seem too interested.

“Hmm,” Shikamaru said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “He’s a jounin sensei, although his team was basically disbanded two years ago.”

“What’s he look like?” Shikaru asked, staring at her cousin.

Shikamaru shrugged. “Tall, permanent slouch, white hair that sticks up crazily.”

“With his hitai-ate over his left eye?”

“Yeah.” Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at her. “Why?” He looked over at Iruka-sensei. “He didn’t do anything… strange, did he?” Shikaru frowned at Shikamaru’s pained expression.

“What? No.” She narrowed her eyes right back at him. “Why? What do you think he did?”

“Nothing…” Shikamaru trailed off. “Kakashi-sensei can be odd sometimes. That’s all.” He shrugged. “I can write you out a few more scenarios if you want. Iruka-sensei looks like he’s going to take his time to get to Ino and Chouji, so I can walk you through some hard ones.”

Shikaru smiled at Shikamaru. Out of all her cousins, she liked him the most – he used to cover for her when she’d steal extra food off the table in family gatherings. She was now certain that all of the ninja there knew exactly what was happening, but had humoured them anyway. And she knew that Shikamaru was pretty smart – after all, he spent a lot of time around Uncle Shikaku, and he was the Clan Head as well as the jounin commander.

“Okay!” She beamed. Stage one of the mission was complete: she knew the white haired ninja’s name. And from here, she could watch to see if he appeared to talk to Iruka-sensei.

 _And_ she could spend some quality time with her cousin – and it wouldn’t interfere with the mission at all.

 

* * *

 

Iruka was drawing a diagram to explain chakra coils on his blackboard when the ANBU appeared in his window.

Iruka turned to face the nin carefully, half hearing his class’s impressed ‘ohhs’ in the background. He’d assumed that the ANBU was just using the Academy as part of their route to wherever they were headed, not that this was their destination.

“Iruka-sensei, your presence is requested by the Hokage at T&I.”

Iruka blinked and focused on the ANBU. They were wearing a cat mask, and it only took him a second to recognise their green chakra, similar to Tsunade’s own.

“It’s not an emergency, I hope,” Iruka replied, putting his chalk down. “Just let me go and tell Shizume that I need the class watched and I’ll be there.

“There’s no need,” the ANBU replied. “I’ve been instructed to… watch over your students while you are gone.”

Iruka raised an eyebrow. While he didn’t know much about Cat, he was fairly certain that he knew little about children. Being in ANBU led to a lot of missions that gave one a varied skillset, but handling pre-genin probably wasn’t something they covered often. While he’d never met the man out of the mask, Iruka knew his chakra signature (like nearly every other ninja in the village) and knew that he ate fairly regularly with Kakashi. Cat probably knew Kakashi from when he had been a Captain, so he didn’t mind leaving his class in the ANBU’s care. If he could deal with Kakashi, he could probably cover for Iruka.

The ANBU tilted his head. “I can walk them through chakra coils,” he said after a few seconds had passed. “That is a vital piece of knowledge, after all.”

Iruka bit back a smile. “Very well.” He turned to his students, most of which were openly staring. ANBU was an secret organisation, and the children mostly knew them through stories, exciting hidden shadows that went on the most dangerous of missions and protected the Hokage. “All of you behave, alright?”

His class gave him sharp nods, looking uncommonly serious, and he flashed a smile at Cat before vaulting out the window.

As soon as he was out of sight of his students, the smile slid off his face. There was only one reason that Tsunade would want him at T&I, and that reason wasn’t going to be pleasant for him. Tsunade only asked when it was urgent, though, so he lent her his services whenever she needed them. This was only the fourth time it had happened in the three years she’d been Hokage, so he supposed it could be worse.

He jumped along the well-trodden path towards T&I, feeling the latent chakra under his feet from all of the ninja that had passed there before him. It was strong enough that the buzzing he could feel from it made him uncomfortable.

He landed in front of the nondescript building that held T&I. There was a ninja in front of the door, loitering in a way that could almost be an accident. Iruka nodded to her as he walked past, and she nodded back.

There was a counter on the other side of the room. Besides the jounin lurking outside, there wasn’t much to suggest what this building was supposed to be for, if you didn’t know. Iruka recognised the person behind the desk and nodded to her congenially.

“Eiri-san,” he greeted. She flashed a smile at him. Eiri had been in the first class that he had taught by himself, five or so years ago. She had a particularly nasty clan ability that was perfect for guarding. Iruka didn’t want to be the person trying to break into T&I when she was on duty.

“Iruka-sensei,” she said cheerfully. “You’re expected. I think Tsunade-sama is worried, if the yelling and crashing I’m hearing are any clue.”

Iruka thanked her and went to the door next to the desk. He felt a frisson of chakra as he touched the handle, and he let it go through him before he felt the lock unclick. He had designed the seals that made security around the archives much more thorough; of course, he hadn’t done it alone. He’d found prototypes for the design in a stack of papers that his late mentor had left to him after she’d died. Iruka had expanded on them, and now only registered chakra signatures could enter T&I.

The hall on the other side of the doorway was stale, white, and bland. Iruka knew its purpose was to confuse intruders or escapees. He went to the second door on the left, knowing that all the others were just where paper information was stored. It was information that was controlled, and you needed to ask to see most of it. However, it was only lightly guarded. This information was mainly files about the past, things that might be needed in the future but not anything highly critical. That was hidden below, and was guarded much more thoroughly than these were.

Iruka opened the door after another chakra check, and started walking down the stairs on the other side. The walls were all the same colour, off-white, and there didn’t seem to be a light source except for the softly glowing walls that kept the hallways bright. He had only been in here for a minute and they were already hurting his eyes.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs, there were two guards. Both of them wore ANBU masks, but Iruka didn’t recognise them, so they probably had permanent positions for this part of the village. His ability didn’t extend that far below ground, and he tried to not pay attention to ANBU on a normal day, anyway.

The ANBU watched him dispassionately as he turned to the left. He’d only been down here several times in his life, and each one had a bad memory attached to it. The way the walls worked, bouncing chakra off each other to make the light, contained his ability and gave him a massive headache. He could already feel it gathering at the back of his head.

It also made him uneasy to not be able to feel the vast majority of chakra signatures that made up his village. Sure, knowing where any person was at any given time often felt invasive and he sometimes wished that he didn’t have the ability, but it felt strange to not know what was happening around him.

He opened the door with Tsunade’s chakra signature behind it, not surprised to find her in the Sensing Barrier room. It was in here where security was located and where the Barrier Team governed the wards that surrounded the village. The Sensing Barrier was the centre point of the room, with several couches around the edges for observers. Under the Sensing Barrier was the machines that allowed the sensor ninja to connect and monitor the barrier.

“Finally,” Tsunade snapped. “Took you long enough.”

“I had to make sure my students would be taken care of,” Iruka commented in a level tone, not wanting to stir up the Hokage when she was in this type of temper. Iruka could see a few craters around the walls, and the normally put together Barrier nin looked pale. The Interception Division were hiding on the upper floor, which was level with the sphere of the Sensing Barrier. Iruka had been around Tsunade enough over the last few years to tell when she was really angry, and when her anger was hiding her worry, and right now, Tsunade was very worried.

“What happened?” Iruka asked.

“Get suited up,” Tsunade said, gesturing towards the machine under the Sensing Barrier. Iruka grimaced and went to sit down in the place where Touso usually sat. The other nin ceded his place to him with a small amount of grace; he obviously thought that Tsunade didn’t need Iruka’s help with whatever problem had occurred.

“There’s been a few small scuffles with Tani nin over the last few weeks,” Tsunade told him as he sat down. The Sensing Barrier was maintained by the self-powering seals worked into the framework, but without a ninja to hold it all into place it tended to wobble and then collapse. A ninja had to sustain the Barrier at all times, in case either it started to collapse or an intruder walked through the Barrier without permission. “And I just received word that a squad going through there to Suna was attacked. Can you reach that far and see what’s happening?” She sounded tense, and Iruka nodded.

“With the help of everything here, and with Touso-san and Uhano-san to provide extra chakra support for the Barrier, I should be able to.” Iruka’s specialty sensing skills made him extremely useful in the upkeep of the Barrier. Alongside the powerful seals that kept the village safe, Iruka’s innate skills expanded greatly and allowed him to reach further than he normally could.

The two ninja from the Detection Division were already in place, and Iruka felt their chakra meeting with his. Uhano’s linked up with only a little bit of fuss; he’d worked with her before, and their chakra was fairly compatible. Touso’s took a second longer, only supporting Iruka when Uhano nudged him into place.

Iruka felt the sphere slide and then shrink, becoming smaller as he moved outwards, focusing on outside the village. He felt the chakra drain immediately, and accepted the boost he received from the other two sensors.

The Land of Rivers separated the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. It was narrow and spindly, filled with deep valleys and dense forest. Iruka stretched south west, feeling weight start to drag at his shoulders. As he went further and further from the village, everything became blurrier and the chakra drain increased. He made it to the border before stopping to focus. He smiled as he recognised a violently bright chakra with a slightly cooler red chakra at the border. Naruto and Jiraiya were in the Land of Fire. He spared a moment to see if he could feel Kakashi, but wherever his partner was, it wasn’t in this part of the Land of Fire. He sighed softly to himself before doing what Tsunade bid him to.

The Village Hidden in the Valleys was in the north of the Land of Rivers, and that was where most Tani nin were. Iruka couldn’t single out any of their chakra, the distance being too great for him to focus specifically. It felt like a lump of different chakra signatures, blended together, and he was sure that it simply looked like a smear on the map hanging above their heads.

“Where?” Iruka managed to say.

“They were heading towards Suna, so straight from here to there. Try looking southwest, the normal route. Shikamaru was on the mission, so you should look for him.”

Iruka felt his toes beginning to tingle and turn cold as he slowly lost feeling in them. He wouldn’t be able to keep this up for much longer, so he focused on where Tsunade had asked. He couldn’t tell the geography of the area, so he listened to Tsunade’s directions of _north, easy, south a bit,_ which were relying on the image hanging above them. He couldn’t do this normally; only with the structure of the machines and barriers could he achieve this. Without Tsunade’s directions he would have trouble finding a specific chakra, unless they were as bright as Naruto.

He felt a slight _ping_ as the careless lick of red that he had been searching for came into his range. He used that as a focus, zooming in on it and leaving the stress of having half the country laid out.

“How far in can you go?” Tsunade asked him.

“Give me a second.”

Iruka focused on Shikamaru’s chakra signature. He pulled himself towards it, and then came down to ground level with his former student. 

Shikamaru was hanging upside down from what Iruka assumed was a tree. The only things he could make out were the chakra, and while some of the much larger trees had their own chakra, the ones around Shikamaru did not. The blurs that were other ninja that Iruka didn’t know manifested themselves as smears of chakra, coloured depending on what elemental affinity they had. Shikamaru had a red outline, and the person hanging next to him was a bright yellow.

Tsunade hissed and Iruka frowned as he tried to sharpen the image. He searched through his memory until he found a picture of Temari, and overlayed that on the bright yellow chakra – having images of the people who he was sensing made it easier for him to keep them straight in his head, and allowed him to focus on other things. They appeared in a void, none of the vegetation around them appearing on the image. 

There were five chakra signatures gathered a few metres from where Temari and Shikamaru were pinned. Iruka felt Temari’s fan, the pale yellow of it reflecting how its owner used it.

He could hear Tsunade barking orders and ANBU moving around near his body, but right now he was focusing on what he could feel. He added the gear he knew his former student would be wearing, and then turned his attention to the chakra signatures. He put pale forms around them – two were female and three were men. He could feel the way electricity zipped through one of them, so he gave him hair that stood up fiercely to represent it. One of the women had a sword that had a chakra signature of its own, so he spent a few moments figuring out how that would look. He ignored the burning cold of his hands to give one of the men a long spear and then to mournfully show the bodies whose chakra was nearly gone, seeping back into the earth.

“..ka! Iruka! Get…!”

Iruka showed as one of the men walked over to Temari and Shikamaru, who he could feel as easily as if they were in the room with him. He focused on the man, and felt him as he snapped into place. He had bright green hair and a tanto at his hip, and his blue chakra denoted his strong water affiliation. 

Something hit him hard across the face and Iruka gasped. The image above him fractured and split into a thousand pieces, the Sensing Barrier reappearing as Touso took control over it again.

Iruka grunted as reality around him slammed back into place, leaving the Land of Rivers behind. Tsunade had a hand wrapped around his upper arm and she was dragging him away from the platform, not minding how she was pulling him across the ground.

Tsunade dumped him on one of the low couches that the Interception Division used when they were waiting and then ran a hand glowing with sharp green chakra over him. Iruka laid his head back dizzily, trying to focus his eyes, which were blurring everything around him. He could barely feel Tsunade’s normally abrasively bright chakra, and the others moving around the room were mere wisps.

“What have I told you about getting lost in there?” She growled at him. Iruka tried to look innocent, but he was sure that it failed. Tsunade stared at him and then sighed. “What am I going to do with you? The brat would kill me if I let you die.”

Iruka tried to smile at her. “I’m sure Kakashi wouldn’t kill you. Deal some grievous bodily harm, at the most.”

Tsunade snorted. “You must be alright if you can find the energy to be snappy with me. Now that we’ve seen what’s going on, I’ve sent a squad of ANBU to go and rescue Shikamaru and Temari. Hopefully we can smooth things over with Suna, but I don’t think the new Kazekage wants trouble with the Leaf, so things should be fine, as long as we find Temari and Shikamaru before they get hurt.”

Iruka closed his eyes as her hands went over him. There shouldn’t be any damage besides maybe a little chakra exhaustion, and that was something that he’d dealt with before. Nothing that Tsunade could really help with, and only something that rest would heal.

“Alright, you should be fine,” Tsunade told him after a minute. “But Iruka, you can’t keep getting lost in it like that. You would have used up all of your chakra if I hadn’t slapped you.”

Iruka lifted a hand to his cheek, which was stinging fiercely. “I can’t help it,” he told her for probably the fifth time. “When I go under, that’s it. I get lost in it.” They’d had this discussion before.

Tsunade sighed. “Which is the only reason you aren’t here permanently. Look, go and eat a whole bunch of food and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll have someone cover your shift at the Academy tomorrow. Rest up and then you can go back to your kids on Friday.”

Iruka nodded, unhappy about missing class but not stupid enough to ignore the advice of his medic nin.

“Do you need anything else?” He asked, tiredness creeping into his tone.

“No, you’ve done enough,” Tsunade sad, eyeing him critically. “Hawk will walk you home.”

Iruka grimaced but stood up, recognising the dismissal. One of the guards that had been at Tsunade’s side when he’d come in earlier detached himself from the wall and came over to stand next to him. Iruka glanced at the ANBU, took an unsteady breath when he recognised him, then walked out the door.

The ANBU that had been at the bottom of the stairs were gone. Iruka walked up them slowly and nodded to Eiri, who cast a worried look after him. The ANBU in the Hawk mask followed him silently to his apartment block, where Iruka turned and bowed. It was strange, not being able to give his former students any recognition when they had the mask on. It was something that was becoming more regular as the years went on and Iruka’s first few classes grew up and found their place. Or, like Hawk, were among his later classes, except were skilled enough to have been accepted into ANBU.

“Thank you, Hawk-san, for escorting me. You can return to your other duties now.”

Hawk bowed back and then disappeared in the space between one breath and the next. Iruka looked at where he had been for a moment before turning and walking up his stairs. Sasuke hadn’t spoken. Likely he thought that doing so would give away his identity, not knowing Iruka already knew it. Hawk. He turned it over in his mind for a few seconds before deciding it was appropriate.

Iruka lived in an apartment block that had several other shinobi as tenants, so the landlord was good about things like minor property damage, but Iruka didn’t want to risk _major_ property damage, so he was extra careful as he wove the signs that would let him into his apartment. He didn’t want to accidently trip anything.

He locked his door after him and collapsed on his couch. He lay there for several seconds before dragging himself into his kitchen and eating almost everything that he had left in his fridge. Finished, he shrugged off his flak vest and loosened his hair from where it had been up in his normal ponytail, and went into his bedroom to sleep for the next twelve hours.

It had been a long day.


	2. Compliments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Purple Iris can convey _compliments._

 

Kakashi slipped through the Barrier that outlined Konoha with a sense of relief. He had the scroll with the information on it, there weren’t any witnesses to connect Konoha with the act, and he didn’t have any life threatening injuries.

All in all, a successful mission.

He headed to the Tower first, knowing that Tsunade would want the scroll back. It had been nearly six weeks since he’d laid foot in Konoha, and the familiar air was relaxing. He nodded to Shiso, who was standing outside the window in her Cheetah mask, as he landed on Tsunade’s window ledge, feeling the attention of the two ANBU in the room turn to him for a sharp second before the one in a cat mask sent a hand signal to the other. Kakashi greeted Tenzou with a slight tilt of his head and went to lean on the wall of the office, hoping that Tsunade wouldn’t be long.

He only had to wait fifteen minutes until he could hear the loud presence of the Hokage coming down the hall towards him. She pushed the door open and walked around to her desk, Shizune hurrying along behind her. Two ANBU, one in a hawk mask and another in tiger mask, ghosted in after her. Kakashi looked at Sasuke critically, and like always, he watched his former student shrink under his gaze. Miho was good friends with Asahina, leader of Rho Squad, and Sasuke’s Captain. She gave him updates on Sasuke’s progress through the years, after he almost defected and almost cost the village several of their most promising genin, including their jinchuuriki. Sasuke knew he’d fucked up, and while Kakashi knew how that felt, he wasn’t going to give the young ninja a pass because of it. Asahina kept him in line, and Kakashi knew that if he put one toe over that line, he’d suffer severe and serious consequences. Tiger and Hawk checked the room quickly, and then flickered outside to guard the door against any intruders.

Tsunade slammed the files she was holding down onto her desk with a satisfying _thwack._ “Kakashi, good. I was beginning to worry,” she said. ‘Beginning to worry’ meant ‘I was thinking of filing a MIA report’ in Tsunade language. Kakashi just shrugged one shoulder in response.

“They had an earth user that could eliminate all traces of them,” Kakashi told her mildly. “I had to track them through their scent, which is fairly difficult when you’re going through a land that’s known for its multitude of rivers.”

“Gah,” Tsunade said. “Fine, fine. You have the scroll?”

Kakashi put it on the edge of the desk. Tsunade picked it up and opened it, scanning the contents of whatever had been stolen. Kakashi stood in his normal slouch, trying not to look outside. He just wanted to go home and eat some of Iruka’s cooking, relax and read some _Icha Icha_ …

“What have you done to your legs?” Tsunade asked him, after she had snapped the scroll closed. “I can see the blood from here.”

Kakashi sighed and submitted himself to her examination. Tsunade was as good as she ever was, being quick and clean. Her verbal abuse was less than normal, and Kakashi could tell that something was weighing at her.

“What’s up?” He asked her as she rebound his shins. He’s fairly certain that the Hokage’s desk wasn’t supposed to be used as a table for examining patients, but Tsunade had told him in no uncertain terms what would happen to him if he didn’t comply with her directions.

Tsunade sighed. “You’ve always been too observant for your own good. I patched your boy up earlier today as well.”

“What?” Kakashi asked, alarmed. He looked out the window towards the east, where Iruka’s apartment was. “What happened? Is he alright?”

“He’s fine, fine,” Tsunade waved her hand at him. “Just some light chakra exhaustion. I had him delve into the Barrier to try to see what was happening in Rivers. A few shinobi were ambushed, carrying the new treaty with Suna with them. We’re still getting reports, and I sent out Beta Squad to deal with it.”

“Hmm,” Kakashi said. Tsunade technically probably shouldn’t be telling him this, although he supposed it was the Hokage’s prerogative. “Should have sent Delta. They specialise in hostage recovery and infiltration.”

Tsunade looked over at where Tenzou was standing. “Delta just came back from a mission. Beta was rested.”

Kakashi shrugged and moved to swing his legs off the table. Tsunade grabbed them and hauled them back where they were, not bothering to be gentle about it. Kakashi swallowed his yelp.

“Did I say you could move?” Tsunade said sweetly, and Kakashi gulped. “Anyway, it’s been a stressful day. And you’re going to sit here and listen to me while I heal you.”

Kakashi sighed silently and sat still while Tsunade kept up her healing. He could _feel_ Tenzou’s amusement.

He was still sitting there when Shizune bustled in an hour later with a stack of paperwork in her arms. Tsunade had been ranting about the Council for the last twenty minutes. Kakashi just wanted to go home and make Iruka dinner and curl up in bed with him and go to sleep. Just because he was on the Council now didn’t mean that he needed to hear about the minute details of every meeting that happened when he could feasibly get out of it. It was giving him a headache, but every time he shifted, Tsunade scowled at him, as if she was daring him to find out what would happen if he tried to go for the window.

Shizune ducked her head to hide her smile as she put the files next to Kakashi. Tonton squealed at him from the floor and Kakashi glared at the pig.

“Can I go yet?” Kakashi asked, looking at Tsunade out of the corner of his eye.

Tsunade glared at him from where she had been pacing around her office. She looked over his legs again before sighing.

“I don’t suppose if I ask you to stay off them you’ll listen?”

She sounded resigned. Kakashi put a touch of energy into his voice when he replied. “My health is my number one priority, Tsunade-sama. I don’t know how you could suggest otherwise.”

Tsunade pursed her lips. “You’re going to have to come to me and get cleared for duty before I put you back on the active roster. You cut those badly, and I want to check them again tomorrow.”

“Will do,” Kakashi said, standing up and stretching. “See ya!”

He brought his hands into position and body flickered out of the office before Tsunade could order him to stay.

He took a well traced path to Iruka’s apartment, landing heavily on the side of his building and slipping in through an open window. Iruka’s apartment was at the end of the hall, so he didn’t need to walk far. He flicked through the hand seals to disable Iruka’s wards and then opened the door, feeling Iruka’s chakra squeeze him slightly as he walked through it.

There were empty dishes on the counter and when Kakashi opened the fridge there was nearly nothing left. Iruka must have been hungry after his healing, like Kakashi was now.

“Damnit Iruka,” Kakashi mumbled, looking at the empty fridge. He went to check Iruka’s bedroom, where Iruka was snoring peacefully. Kakashi smiled softly at him before he went back out.

Kakashi closed Iruka’s door after him and headed down the hall to where one of Iruka’s neighbours was at home. Kakashi could tell because he could hear her swearing from outside Iruka’s door.

Kakashi knocked and waited for a few seconds before the swearing stopped. Anko yanked the door open and scowled at him.

“I felt you down the hall, but I didn’t think you’d be game enough to actually knock on my door.”

“Anko-san,” Kakashi greeted cheerfully. “Do you have any food you wouldn’t mind parting with?”

Anko stared at him for a solid ten seconds. “Even if I did, why on earth would I give it to you? Iruka deserves better.”

Kakashi stared at her, trying to ignore his growling stomach and the metaphoric punch Anko had just delivered.

“Tsunade just spent an hour healing me, and I’m starving. I would normally eat Iruka’s food, but _he_ just got healed and is sleeping it off after eating everything in his kitchen. I would go and buy something but I don’t have any money on me, and my legs don’t like the idea of walking around anymore than they have to. I just want to go to sleep.”

Anko looked at him, then looked him over. “Fine,” she grumbled, obviously realising how banged up he looked. “Wait there, or the wards will fry you.”

Kakashi stood by the door as Anko went back into her apartment. She came out with a bowl that she shoved into his hands and then slammed the door in his face. Kakashi looked down at the bowl bemusedly and then headed back to Iruka’s apartment.

Kakashi grabbed a spoon from Iruka’s kitchen and ate the soup Anko had given him. It was cold but Kakashi still thought it was one of the best meals he’d eaten, he was so hungry.

He tossed his hitai-ate onto the counter with a clunk. His fingers were clumsy as he unzipped his flak vest and put his weapons pouches on the hooks where they belonged near the front door. He left the bandages around his legs but otherwise took everything else off, slipping into a large shirt in Iruka’s cupboard.

Iruka stirred as he lifted the covers and settled in behind him. The other nin turned over and smiled sleepily at him.

“Hey,” Iruka murmured. “You alright?”

“Nothing time won’t fix,” Kakashi said quietly. “Just tired right now.”

Iruka huffed and shuffled so that he was touching Kakashi, and then closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Kakashi watched him, eye drooping. Iruka’s face was open when he slept, and Kakashi took advantage of it when he could.

He slung an arm over Iruka before he closed both of his eyes, falling easily into the warm embrace of sleep.

 

* * *

 

Kakashi woke up when the light in Iruka’s room got too bright for him to sleep through. The other man was still sleeping, but chakra exhaustion did that to you. Kakashi tried flexing his legs and grimaced when bolts of pain shot up his calves.

Kakashi rolled out of bed, and Iruka didn’t stir. He didn’t bother to change out of the soft shirt he’d slept in, and meandered into the living room to eat the few things that Iruka hadn’t annihilated the day before. Iruka’s clock said that it was just before twelve, and while he wanted to go out, both to get some groceries and to go to the Monument, he grudgingly decided that it probably wasn’t in the best interests of his legs to do so.

However, Tsunade had never said anything about not using chakra, so he bit his thumb and flicked his hands through a few hand signs before summoning three of his pack. The kickback knocked the breath out of him and Obito’s eye started throbbing painfully in his skull. Okay. No more of that.

Uuhei, Akino and Shiba popped into existence, and Kakashi settled back onto Iruka’s couch, trying not to show how difficult it was to contain the pain rioting happily through his body.

“Boss?” Akino asked. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Kakashi said. “You all recover from the last jutsu use?”

“Yeah,” Uuhei muttered. “Pakkun was a bit drained though.”

“Hmm,” Kakashi hummed. Pakkun was getting old, and he was the ninken that Kakashi used primarily. He’d stop, except then Pakkun would likely get mouthy at him. He’d just have to keep it in mind in the future.

“What do you need us for, Boss?” Shiba asked, ready to please.

“I need you all to go and get some supplies,” Kakashi said. “Iruka’s got nothing in his kitchen at all, so anything you can grab would be good.”

The three ninken eyed him for several seconds until they realised he was being serious.

“Really, Boss?” Uuhei asked, disapproval strong in her voice.

“Iruka is still sleeping and Tsunade told me to rest. And I’m hungry.”

Shiba sighed, but all of the ninken jumped out the window when Kakashi opened it for them.

Kakashi tidied up some of the more obvious mess in the apartment, sweeping the floor and doing the dishes. He cleaned Anko’s plate with extra care, not wanting to crack it. She was probably already mad enough at him as it was.

His dogs came back after an hour with a few bags of rice, four bananas, one large steak and a bottle of soy sauce. It was enough for now, and Kakashi thanked them all before he let the summoning go.

He put half of the rice on to cook and ate two of the bananas. Iruka stumbled into the living room twenty minutes later, probably woken by the smell of the cooked rice. Kakashi had fried the meat and doused it in soy sauce, and Iruka barely had a chance to look surprised at how he was dressed before he was inhaling the food.

Kakashi ate his more slowly, watching his partner and trying not to smile.

“Everything go alright?” Iruka mumbled around his mouthful.

_Blood fear the sharp brightness of the raikiri the Sharingan swirling painfully the world a bright nightmare that he couldn’t forget no matter how much he wanted –_

“Fine,” he replied, curling his eyes up into his normal facsimile of a smile.

“That doesn’t work if I can see that you’re not actually smiling,” Iruka told him softly. Kakashi could hear the unspoken _You can talk about it if you want to_ , so he shrugged a shoulder in response. Iruka didn’t press when Kakashi didn’t want to talk, but they’d worked it out years ago that he shouldn’t bottle everything up.

Iruka listened calmly to Kakashi’s somewhat censored version of events, leaving out details like the scroll and where they’d been, but detailing Kakashi’s frustration with the loss of life and the pointlessness of it all.  

Iruka sighed. “Well, there’s not much we can do about it now. Just remember that it’s not your fault, alright? You didn’t give them the order to steal the scroll. You didn’t lead the squad and sacrifice them. You did your job, for the village.”

Kakashi looked out the window. Iruka’s words weren’t anything he didn’t already know. But he felt better, just to hear them said out loud.

“Thanks,” he sighed.

“It’s no problem.” Some of the tension went out of Iruka’s shoulders. Kakashi knew that it made him feel better when Kakashi felt better.

Kakashi shrugged and poked at his rice after he basked in the comfortable silence for a few seconds. “You need to keep more food in your apartment. I had to go and ask Anko for some food when I got here.”

Iruka looked at him disbelievingly. “Anko? You mean… Anko as in the Anko down the hall from here?”

Kakashi resisted the urge to duck his head and pull up the collar of his shirt so he could hide his smile – a real one this time. “Yes, that one. Unless there are multiple Ankos running around your apartment block?”

Iruka shivered. “One is enough, thank you very much.” He shovelled some rice into his mouth and then frowned.

“What?” Kakashi asked, humour dropping out of his tone. Iruka had just tensed up, and his eyes had unfocused in a way that let him know that Iruka was focusing on the intricate chakra network of the village.

“There’s an ANBU squad two blocks over. Four members, battle ready. It’s probably nothing…” Iruka trailed off, but Kakashi was already moving. A full squad battle ready in Konoha meant trouble, and he was wearing nothing but one of Iruka’s old shirts, his boxers, and his dog tags.

Iruka watched him pensively as he strode towards the bedroom, waking up his chakra network so he could try to reach for any chakra signatures he recognised. It promptly rebelled against him and Kakashi grimaced as a flash of pain went through his head, focusing in Obito’s eye.

He’d only just gotten to the doorway before Iruka’s cry of alarm went through the apartment. He turned immediately and leapt to the weakest point of the seals that Iruka had set up – the wall in the kitchen that separated the kitchen and balcony, which didn’t border another unit since Iruka lived in a mostly civilian block. Iruka had designed the weakness that way so he would know where the likeliest place for an attack would occur and they could plan for it, instead of being surprised as to where an intruder came in.

Sure enough, the wall section crumbled, and Kakashi countered the short sword that reached out to stroke at him with a kunai he’d swiped from under the couch. Iruka let out a startled sound, and immediately jumped to the corner of the lounge room, one of the most fortified areas. It was defensible, and Iruka could also back him up with a water jutsu or a few strategically placed seals if things got really hairy. Kakashi knew that it would grate on him to stand out of the way, but Iruka wasn’t stupid – he knew that Kakashi was a better fighter than him. Iruka was a supporting ninja, not a battle type.

Kakashi swiped forward to defend the hole in Iruka’s ceiling, but the sword had a far longer reach than his kunai, and the ANBU had armour on. Kakashi was good, but he wasn’t that good. He went on the offensive, but there was only so much you could do with a knife against a sword. The ANBU thrust forward and Kakashi was forced to leap back or lose his arm; he still got a deep cut for his troubles.

Kakashi used the couch as cover as the ANBU threw a wind jutsu at him, hands flashing through the seals. The wind blade was weakened enough so that once it had cut through the couch it didn’t cut through Kakashi, simply ruffling his hair and throwing into more disarray than it already was. He cast a look towards the kitchen and his hitai-ate. His hair was always messy in the mornings, which was why he kept his hitai-ate on hand to contain it. He grabbed another kunai that Iruka had left under the table, feeling a tiny bit better as he armed himself.

Kakashi stood slowly, staring the ANBU down. He was standing between them and Iruka, making it clear that they’d have to go through him to get to his partner. Blood trickled down his arm, and he made a note of it in the back of his head – he didn’t want his grip to slip on his kunai at the wrong moment.

“What are your orders?” Kakashi asked, voice low. He hadn’t opened Obito’s eye yet – his chakra was still low from the mission. He wouldn’t risk the Sharingan until he absolutely had to. His legs were throbbing from the running that he’d already had to do; he did his best to ignore them.

The ANBU stood mutely, and Kakashi tensed as another two ninja jumped into the apartment from the hole in the ceiling. The fourth was nowhere to be found, but Kakashi would not be surprised if they were simply the backup, and to make sure that no one else interfered. Although, Iruka’s wards _were_ quite powerful. It was possible that the fourth member had been the one to break open the ward on the wall, and as such was currently indisposed (dead. He couldn’t hear a heartbeat) on Iruka’s balcony. 

Kakashi risked a look back at Iruka, who was paler than normal. Kakashi saw that he had picked up a kunai from somewhere as well.

“What are your orders?” Kakashi bit out again, swallowing as the two new ninja began to edge outwards, obviously wanting to flank him. He took a step back, mind racing.

The ANBU weren’t giving him anything. He knew that any ANBU member who only belonged to ANBU would show him enough respect to tell him what they were doing, at least. Which meant…

“What does Danzou want now?”

The ANBU on the right shuffled slightly, the sound making it to Kakashi’s ears, and letting him know that he’d startled that one.

“What is the Hokage going to say when she finds out that you’ve attacked two of the most important ninja in the village?”

There was only one reason they hadn’t attacked already – Iruka’s seals hid the chakra signatures of those inside. They hadn’t been expecting him. Even without his gear on, he was easily identifiable due to his hair, the scar over his eye and the fact that he could and would fight them. Kakashi felt something in him relax that he hadn’t know was tense. The fact that he and Iruka were involved hadn’t made it to public awareness yet. Tsunade knew, and so did Shizune. Gai had figured it out and had been surprisingly quiet about it. Tenzou, Anko and Kurenai rounded out the number of people that he knew who definitely knew. However, even if they hadn’t expected him, that wasn’t going to keep them from trying to obtain their prize for very long.

“Tsunade-sama wouldn’t send a squad out like this, in her own village,” Kakashi continued. He was stalling for time, and they all knew it. Where was Tenzou when you needed him…

“If Umino-san comes with us peacefully, we will not harm either of you,” the lead Root agent said, voice monotone.

Kakashi bared his teeth. “Until you take him where I cannot find him. He stays with me.”

Iruka didn’t say anything behind him, letting Kakashi handle the situation as he wanted. Kakashi had far more experience in this area than Iruka, and Iruka would let him take the lead on what was going down.

The Root member on his left moved, and Kakashi threw one of his precious kunai to distract them until he moved forward to parry and fight for a few seemingly endless seconds. The Root cut through his shirt when he didn’t lean back far enough, as used as he was to wearing armour that would contain his bust. Kakashi shook his chakra to disrupt the genjutsu she had tried to settle over him, recognising it without even having to twitch his left eye. He opened the Sharingan for a bare second to judge where the woman was going to move next, and put his kunai in her throat.

The Root that had been on his right had moved to engage Iruka. Kakashi had already judged him as the least experienced of the group, and he wouldn’t find Iruka as easy prey as they thought, so he let them fight while he turned to face the last one.

The leader had stood still while Kakashi had put down the Root that had attacked. He was the real threat here – the fourth member was likely a sensor type, and the one he’d killed had been genjutsu. The one attacking Iruka was probably taijutsu, which left this one to be the ninjutsu specialist, the group’s heavy hitter.

“You’re as good as they say,” the Root said lowly before his hands started forming seals.

That was about the moment that Anko burst in through the door.

She looked at Iruka fighting the Root member, and Kakashi dressed in hardly anything (his shirt was in tatters by now – this is why he never took off his gear _goddamnit_ ) and promptly spat snakes at the ninja fighting Iruka.

Reassured, Kakashi turned back in time to catch the tail end of a string of hand signs. Cursing quietly to himself, Kakashi rolled into a dodge as the Root let a fireball fly. Kakashi doused it with a quick stream of water he’d picked up in Kiri, ignoring how his chakra network screamed with it, before it could do too much damage to Iruka’s apartment. His shirt caught on fire as the fire ball flew past, the already tattered garment succumbing to the element. This shirt was well and truly destroyed. He smacked it out, but not before he felt the tell-tale tightness in his skin that let him know he’d been burnt. 

Kakashi flicked his hands through one of his own jutsu – a lightning one that Minato had taught him. The lightning flickered from his hands to shock the Root agent, freezing him for a few precious seconds. Kakashi used them to retrieve both of his fallen kunai and launch one at his opponent while the other was thrown back to deflect a senbon that would have ended up in Anko’s throat.

The agent in front of him dodged a fatal hit, although he still drew blood. With that, Kakashi swiped a thumb through the blood that was running from one of his cuts, and began the hand sequence for summoning.

He’d only just finished the _Tori_ seal when wood burst through the floor to immobilise both Root members.

Kakashi let out a silent sigh and let go of the chakra he’d been folding into his hands. Kakashi leapt towards the Root agent and touched his skin, feeling Obito’s eye swirl as he sunk a considerable amount of chakra into a genjutsu. He bounced back to feel Iruka’s back against his own as Tenzou appeared in the window, cat mask in place. The man slumped, unconscious, and Kakashi turned to face his kouhai, suddenly dizzy at the loss of chakra.

The fight apparently over, he let himself relax marginally, feeling his chakra network groaning from the strain of using it. He was going to be feeling that tomorrow. Or in a minute.

The man in the boar mask that had replaced Kakashi when he had left Delta landed quietly when he jumped through the roof. He went to Iruka and Anko’s opponent as Kakashi stalked over to Tenzou.

“What is going on?” He hissed, looking at the Root agents.

“Hokage-sama would like to see you,” Tenzou told him lowly.

“I would think so!” Iruka stormed towards them. “What’s happening?”

Kakashi reached over to squeeze his wrist gently. Iruka relaxed a tiny amount when he did; they’d worked out a system to tell each other danger a long time ago, and Kakashi had just signalled _safe_.

“Now,” Tenzou said, before disappearing.

“Kakashi,” Iruka asked urgently. “What was that? ANBU fighting ANBU? Fighting us?”

“It isn’t safe here anymore,” Kakashi told him hurriedly. “But they weren’t ANBU. They weren’t expecting me, so they must have been after you.” Iruka flinched. He’d been trying to avoid people who wanted him for his sensing abilities for most of his life.

“So they were posing as ANBU?” Iruka muttered, casting a resigned look around his wrecked apartment.

“We’ll talk to Tsunade and work it out from there,” Kakashi said. When he looked behind him, both Root members and Boar were already gone.

“What the fuck was that about?” Anko asked as she came over to them. Then she looked at Kakashi and did a double take. “Wait a second –”

“Tsunade will tell us what happened,” Kakashi said forcefully, interrupting her. He stared at her with his one open eye, daring her to say anything about his physique. If anything was hidden under his destroyed shirt, he would be very surprised. “If he can, I’m sure Iruka would be willing to fill you in on what happens.”

It was obviously a dismissal. Anko hesitated for a moment, but had the sense to keep her eyes on Iruka instead of him.

“Fine,” she said. “If that’s what I get for my help.”

“I appreciate it greatly, Anko-san,” Iruka said. “Thank you for helping. I doubt I would have lasted long against the nin without your assistance.”

Anko huffed and turned to walk out the door, but Kakashi thought that her pride had been salvaged enough that Iruka probably wouldn’t get his head bitten off by a snake the next time he knocked on her apartment door.

Iruka turned to him, eyes full of questions, but Kakashi shook his head. The apartment wasn’t soundproof anymore, and he didn’t know who was listening. “Are you alright?” He looked Iruka over as he asked, seeing how he was a little roughed up. There was a cut on his face, but it wasn’t deep. Kakashi touched it gently, frowning. He’d get Tsunade to check it as soon as they got to the Tower; he wouldn’t put Danzou above using poison.

“Am _I_ alright? Kakashi, you’re bleeding!”

Kakashi brushed off Iruka’s concern. “It’s fine. We dress, we head to the Tower.”

Iruka pursed his lips but nodded, following Kakashi to the bedroom. Kakashi only realised he was gripping a kunai he must have picked up from somewhere when he couldn’t take Iruka’s shirt off.

He took a deep breath in and was in his full kit, minus his hitai-ate and weapons pouch, in under a minute. Iruka was nearly done as well, so Kakashi left to the front door of the apartment where the rest of his gear was, and was just tying his hitai-ate around Obito’s eye when Iruka came out, fully dressed. He grabbed his own flak vest and pouch, and they were both ready to go.

They flitted between buildings silently, and Kakashi let Iruka take a half second lead, so he could avoid anyone that was coming. He could sense any chakra, no matter if the owner tried to hide it or not, far better than Kakashi would ever be able to.

He landed in the window completely silently, wincing internally when he heard the almost inaudible _thunk_ when Iruka landed beside him.

Kakashi took a deep breath in and told himself that he was not outside the village; he didn’t have to worry (or did he?). It was (supposedly) safe here (that’s what they tell us). The village was protected (from outside threats – what about internal ones?) and they didn’t have to worry about things like how far away the nearest ANBU member (enemy?) was, or how far the sound of Iruka’s tread would have reached (three point two metres).

His knuckles were white from resisting the urge to grab a kunai (or even better, a tanto. Why had he stopped wearing one of those?). Tenzou was standing just inside the room beside the window, and Kakashi took a quarter of a second to breathe him in. Pack.

Tsunade was sitting at her desk. There were shadows under her eyes and she looked like she hadn’t slept. Kakashi sniffed the air and could scent her clearly – she hadn’t showered in at least two days, and she smelled tired.

“Kakashi. Iruka. Get in here.”

Kakashi slid down from the windowsill, still completely silent. Tenzou was the only one of the three ANBU in the room that he recognised. He bit his cheek until he tasted blood and resolved to get the clearance and permission to delve into ANBU files and reacquaint himself with the organisation. Had it really been five years since he’d left?

Tsunade looked them both over, her eyes lingering on the bandages that Kakashi had hastily wrapped around his arm.

She looked down at the file in her hands and frowned at something in it, crossing something out and scribbling something else in the margin.

“Cat, make Kakashi a chair. You look like you’re going to fall over.” She glared at him until he reluctantly sat down on the chair that had spiralled up out of nowhere behind him. “You couldn’t have waited until tomorrow for this?”

“We didn’t ask to be attacked,” Kakashi growled lowly. “What the hell happened?”

Tsunade sighed. “It’s my fault. Yesterday, I called Iruka in to find something out for me. Certain… parties were reminded of Iruka’s abilities. I made no effort to hide it, thinking that the Barrier team would keep it to themselves. But there must be a leak in there, somewhere.”

“A leak? In the Barrier Team? They’re handpicked.” Kakashi heard Iruka swallow after he’d spoken, and Kakashi resisted the urge to grab his hand. Iruka had always been afraid of something like this happening; he kept a low profile, not taking many missions, just teaching his kids. He tried to not make waves. It was one of the main reasons he’d never tried for higher than chuunin, either.

“Although, you probably didn’t make things any better, Kakashi.”

Kakashi went so still he wouldn’t have been surprised if his heart stopped beating for a second to assist him in his endeavour to remain silent. Iruka shot a look at him, obviously concerned. It wasn’t like Kakashi didn’t know what she was talking about. He did, but he’d never intended to talk about it with Iruka while there were others present.

“How so?” Kakashi grated, wanting to talk about anything but this.

“Don’t play dumb,” Tsunade brushed him off, shuffling some papers and signing one of them. “Interested parties took note of what you were researching, Kakashi.”

“It’s not _interested parties_ ,” Kakashi said, chafing against the silence in the room. “You know who arranged this.” Iruka opened his mouth as if to ask something – he wasn’t patient when there was something that he felt he should be included in, and he didn’t mind telling people what he thought, either. Kakashi nudged him and Iruka shot a look at him but closed his mouth. By the look in his eyes though, Kakashi knew that he was going to hear about that later.

Tsunade grimaced, at his words and the silence exchange. “I know, but it’s the same problem as ever; I don’t have enough to move on it.”

Kakashi grit his teeth. They’d been trying to get evidence to take Danzou off the Council for over a year now, and nothing had turned up.

“Surely an _attack_ on two _Konoha_ _ninja_ is enough?” Kakashi seethed. “What will it take for you to fight against him?”

“Stop trying to change the topic,” Tsunade warned, stamping a file. “ _He_ took interest in what you were looking into, and he thought through how it would affect the village.”

“Are you saying that the ninja were after Kakashi, not me?” Iruka cut in, obviously agitated. He was over his shock enough to talk now, and once he got started, he wouldn’t slow down until he got to the bottom of what had just happened. “No one has told me what the hell is going on. Why did ninja who look like ANBU break into my apartment?”

Tsunade looked down at her folders, obviously sorting out her thoughts. “There are certain factions in Konoha that are not under my direct control. Politics are a complicated, messy thing that I wish I could do away with. But, democracy is something that the Sandaime cultivated…” She sighed. “I would think that they were probably after you, Iruka.” Kakashi resisted the urge to get up and pace, needing to work out his tension. The battle hadn’t been long enough or bloody enough to satiate him.

“So the ANBU weren’t ANBU?” Iruka pressed, wanting the answers Tsunade was jumping around.

“No, they weren’t.”

“Then why are they allowed in the village if you can’t control them? That doesn’t seem safe or practical at all,” Iruka told her.

“But that’s how it is,” Tsunade replied, voice hardening. “Although I expect that he wanted a subtle kidnapping, not a fight. Your seals are probably the only reason you’re standing here, Iruka.”

“So he just wanted to take Iruka quietly, and then what? Hold him hostage? Leverage?” Kakashi ground his teeth at the thought.

“No matter what you want to believe, he has Konoha’s best interests at heart,” Tsunade said, clearly seeing Kakashi’s seething anger. “And he decided that you were too valuable, Kakashi, for anything to risk you that didn’t need to be risked. You _know_ that you’re next in line for Hokage, and yet –”

“Something no one has asked if I actually want to take up,” Kakashi said. He didn’t try to avoid sounding tired. Kami, he was tired of all of this. Give him someone to kill, any day, over these damn politics.

“You don’t get a choice, brat – it’s what’s best for the village. You know that, and when the time comes, that’s why you’ll accept the position of Rokudaime.”

Kakashi ignored how Iruka’s stare was burning into the side of his head. “I’d hope you were planning on living for a while yet, Tsunade-sama.”

“I can’t always plan for what I want to happen, Kakashi. You know that.” She stamped another file and then leaned back in her chair, wiping a hand over her forehead. “As much as I’d like to live for another twenty years and then peacefully retire when Naruto proves himself worthy of the position, the world we live in does not lend itself to that. You know that. It’s why you’ve reclaimed the Hatake seat on the Council, and why you’ve been building yourself political allies. You’re preparing for when you take over, because like me, you always plan far ahead. So stop pretending you aren’t going to accept when they give you the hat.”

Kakashi looked away from the Hokage’s piercing gaze. Like always, she saw too much.

“Which is why Danzou took an interest. He knows that he has to get some sort of leverage against you, and he cares not if he uses the carrot or the stick. Iruka, you were in his radar already, and then I reminded him of what you’re really capable of… My apologies.”

“None are needed, Tsunade-sama,” Iruka told her, bowing his head. Now that he had been keyed in to the situation, his manners had come back to him. “I am eager to aid my village in any way that I can.” Kakashi saw the questions in his eyes and sighed to himself. “But I _would_ like to know what, exactly, is going on.”

Tsunade massaged her forehead. Kakashi tried not to make it obvious that he wasn’t looking at Iruka.

“Normally this type of thing would be kept private, between partners. But because of your unique circumstances, Kakashi, it can’t.” She sighed loudly. “Couldn’t you have just kept what you were looking at a secret?”

“I thought I was,” Kakashi said lowly. “I didn’t want anyone knowing, but apparently I need to be more cautious.” The unspoken _I didn’t think I’d need to in the village_ hovered in the air between them all for a few seconds.

Tsunade looked at him and didn’t say anything, making it obvious that she was leaving the choice up to him whether or not to tell Iruka.

Kakashi looked at Iruka, who was clearly containing himself. He ran a hand through his hair and stared morosely at the ground. Why did they have to butt into this, of all things?

“Iruka…” He sighed. “I was going to tell you, but not here. When we get home.”

“Go back to the Compound,” Tsunade huffed, starting to read the papers on her desk again.

“I was going to,” Kakashi replied. He went to stand up, only to have Tsunade in front of him again.

“Brat, what did I say about straining those legs?”

She crouched and ran a hand over them again, much to Kakashi’s chagrin.

“You’ve ripped these again,” Tsunade told him.

“I know,” Kakashi muttered.

An ANBU pulled Iruka away to take his statement while Tsunade spot healed a few of the nastier gashes he’d received. She told him that there wasn’t any poison, but that he should rest for the next few days until she cleared him for duty.

“I’ll have Cat and his team follow the Root agents,” Tsunade told him lowly. “This isn’t something that Danzou can just get away with.” When Kakashi looked up, he caught Tenzou’s eye. His kouhai nodded, and then he and Boar went out the window. “This was meant to be subtle, but because it wasn’t we can take advantage of this. Was anyone else there?”

“Anko came in half way through the fight,” Kakashi tells her. “But no one else. It was too fast.”

“I can use that,” Tsunade said, eyes distant. “Three witnesses isn’t something to be ignored. It’ll have to be at the right time, though. Otherwise he’ll find a way to make it a play in his favour.”

“Well you can start with Root and how it’s not supposed to actually still exist,” Kakashi suggested as she leaned back, finished. 

“Yes. I’ll keep you updated, but until then, you should lay low. Don’t give him an excuse to come after you again.”

Kakashi stood up and bit his tongue to stop himself from flinching or making a sound. Damnit, he had just wanted to spend a few days with Iruka while he healed, and he got this instead. Story of his life.

Tsunade forbade any chakra jumping, so they had to walk out of the Tower via the ground floor. Iruka was hovering close, obviously wanting to support him but restraining himself since they were in public. Kakashi ignored the looks he received and dug his hands deeper into his pockets, wishing he could just be back in Iruka’s apartment before everything went crazy.

Iruka was uncharacteristically silent on the way to the Compound, and Kakashi winced internally. Iruka would keep bottling everything up until they were in private, and then all hell would break loose.

The Hatake Compound was on the outer reaches of Konoha, the boundary of the village being one of its walls. It was fairly understated, but it had a large amount of land around it, as well as the Hatake wards that guarded against any intruders.

Kakashi carefully nicked his thumb with one of his kunai to smear over the lock, watching as the metal drank it in. The gate clicked open with a soft chime, and Kakashi grabbed Iruka’s hand with his own, making sure to get some of his blood on him.

The gates closed behind them, and Kakashi didn’t bother dropping Iruka’s hand, leading them to the central area. All the furniture had dust protectors over them, attesting to how long it’d been since Kakashi had bothered moving them.

“Can you summon the pack for me?” Kakashi asked Iruka. His chakra network would probably collapse on itself if he tried to, but Iruka knew all his ninken, he knew the hand signs, and he had Kakashi’s blood. And probably more chakra than Kakashi, at the moment.

Iruka frowned at him, but rubbed his hand to get more blood. He flicked through the hand signs and they were both surrounded by smoke as all eight of his dogs puffed into existence.

“Boss?” Pakkun asked, looking around. “What’s happening? You don’t come here unless...” He trailed off, looking at Iruka.

“Scout around the outside perimeter,” Kakashi told them tiredly. “Then do whatever. I’d prefer it if you stayed here, though.”

The dogs yipped their agreement and disappeared out the door.

“You don’t have to worry about chakra drain,” Kakashi told Iruka, slowly starting for the one room in the Compound that he still did use. “Normally when they’re summoned it’s only a partial summoning, but on these grounds it’s a full summoning. They’re not going anywhere unless they want to, and it doesn’t cost any chakra.”

Iruka followed him up to his bedroom and watched as Kakashi sat down on his bed tiredly.

“Kakashi…” Iruka said, watching him closely.

Kakashi sighed and closed his eye. “Come here.”

Iruka hesitated for a moment before untying his hitai-ate and putting it on the low table next to the bed. Kakashi reached up to pull his own off and put it down next to Iruka’s.

“I’m sorry about this morning,” he starts. “It was my fault, bringing you to Danzou’s attention like I did.”

“It’s something that I’ve had to deal with for my whole life,” Iruka told him, voice soft. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been targeted for my abilities. You know what it’s like.”

The other man sat down on the bed and Kakashi felt the air move as his hand came up to brush against Kakashi’s left cheek, and the thick scar there.

Kakashi grabbed Iruka’s hand and tugged, pulling him down until Iruka settled himself against Kakashi’s side.

“This is all I wanted,” Kakashi confessed quietly. “Just a quiet day or two. Doing nothing but eating and sleeping.”

He felt Iruka’s breath puff against his neck. “Yeah, that didn’t work out well, did it?”

Kakashi smiled, but didn’t say anything else.

“What was Tsunade talking about?”

He sighed.

“I wasn’t going to talk to you about it until I was sure,” he grumbled. The hand that he didn’t have wrapped around Iruka’s waist came up to pull his mask down, and then tug at the fabric absentmindedly as he talked. “Damn politics tipped my hand.”

Iruka didn’t say anything, the silence taunting him with all the unspoken works between them.

“I was looking into chakra bonding,” Kakashi said eventually, voice gruff.

Iruka sucked in a breath. “Kakashi… you…”

He shrugged – or tried to. Shrugging didn’t work so well when you were lying down and had someone’s head on your shoulder. “Just an idea. I wasn’t… I didn’t know… I wouldn’t have done anything about it until I knew everything.”

“Kakashi, no one knows how to chakra bond anymore. It’s a lost art.” Iruka leaned up and Kakashi opened his eye reluctantly to look at him. “You can’t just go around recreating lost jutsu because of an _idea_.”

Iruka was angry. Kakashi closed his eye again. “It’s not lost.”

“What?”

“It’s not lost.”

He peeked at Iruka, who just looked confused now. “What do mean, it’s not lost?”

“It was never lost,” Kakashi told him. “Knowledge about it was just restricted to jounin level ninja and above. Everyone else was told it was lost.”

“Why?” Iruka asked. He never liked it when knowledge was taken away, but Kakashi thought that he might understand, this time.

“Too many ninja were getting at it and bonding with people they were unsuitable with. And when they wanted to break up, they found out they couldn’t. The bond wouldn’t let them. Then, when Princess Tsuku was kidnapped and bound against her will… That sealed it, I think, for nearly all the Nations that still had the scrolls instructing on how it as to be done. They burned them publically, declared it a forbidden technique, and tried to forget about it.”

Iruka was silent for a long while. Kakashi tried not to shift uncomfortably. He hadn’t made up his mind about this yet… And he didn’t know how Iruka would react when he told him all of it.

“Should you even be telling me about this then?” Iruka asked, voice carefully neutral. Kakashi resisted the urge to bury his face in Iruka’s hair.

“Well, I should think as my intended you should know what you’re getting into,” Kakashi tried to joke. Iruka bit his lip.

“What… would I be getting into?”

Kakashi’s breath caught in his throat and he let it out carefully. “Well. It’s essentially the shinobi version of marriage.”

“And you didn’t lead with that?” Iruka asked, exasperated. He leaned up and supported himself on his elbows while Kakashi stubbornly kept his eyes closed. “Kakashi,” he said softly, and Kakashi had to open his eye for that.

Iruka’s were warm and understanding. He leaned over to kiss the corner of his mouth softly. “Tell me about it,” he asked, voice soft but unbending. Kakashi knew he couldn’t get out of this, so he didn’t try.

“This’ll take a while,” he grumbled.

Just as Iruka finished readjusting himself, Uuhei appeared in the doorway.

“The grounds are clear,” she said in her soft voice. “Shiba wanted to know if you had any toys around we could play with.”

Kakashi leaned over and opened his bedside table draw, and threw a sturdy rope to Uuhei. The wolfhound grabbed it immediately and left, the end of the rope trailing after her.

“That should keep them occupied for a while,” Kakashi said. His legs were killing him.

Iruka sat up and shrugged his flak vest off, dumping it on the ground. Next went his pouches, and outer shirt, until he was just wearing his shirt and pants.

Kakashi didn’t try to protest as Iruka started on his vest. “You can talk while I do this,” Iruka told him mildly, and Kakashi nodded. No use putting it off anymore.

“Well, like I said, the shinobi version of marriage. Although being ninja means that they had to up the ante a little…” Kakashi winced as Iruka bumped the cut on his chest.

“Of course,” Iruka murmured. Kakashi grinned a little.

“While civilians pledge their hearts, we do something more… Pledge our souls. Chakra bonding is a delicate technique that binds two ninjas’ chakra together. How exactly, I’m not quite sure. I was looking into that recently. I was going to find some bonded partners in the village, but to do that I’d have to ask Tsunade, and I thought that she didn’t know about me poking around for information. Bonded partners are kept secret.”

“Why?”

Kakashi didn’t answer for a long moment. “Iruka, what happens when you lose all your chakra?”

“You die,” Iruka says, looking at him with a touch of confusion. That was one of the first lessons he taught his students, after all. “That’s why I worry about you with your chakra exhaustion all the time.”

“Hn,” Kakashi said noncommittally. “I know my limits, unlike some ninja. So if you shared your chakra with another person, and they died, say, while out on a mission, what would happen to their chakra?”

“It would disappear, I suppose,” Iruka answered. Kakashi leant up obediently when Iruka moved to pull his shirt off, tutting at how blood stained the bandages around his chest.

“It would all be lost,” Kakashi reworded. “And if they were connected to your chakra while all theirs was lost…”

Iruka slowed in his unwrapping of the bandages to look at him. “Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh’ pretty much sums it up,” Kakashi muttered, biting back a hiss of pain when Iruka exposed the cut to the air, rubbing the bandage across it when it was lifted. “Fuck, can you not?”

“You didn’t take care of it properly,” Iruka told him patiently.

“There’s a med kit in the drawers over there,” Kakashi said, bringing a hand up to touch the knife wound. Tsunade had started the healing process, but it still hurt. It must have been deeper than he’d thought.

Iruka moved to get the kit as Kakashi continued. “Chakra bonding was made hundreds of years ago, when you couldn’t divorce. It was seen as a greater commitment, but only because you died together. Now, of course, things are different.”

“Yes, I can see,” Iruka said as he found the med kit. “I’m assuming that there isn’t a way to break it once it’s done?”

“Ahh, there is one way. But it’s not pleasant. And one of the bonded has to die.”

Iruka winced as he sat down again. “Tell me about it.”

“My parents were chakra bonded,” Kakashi said instead. “My father nearly lost his mind when my mother died.”

Iruka went still. Kakashi never talked about his parents. He closed his eyes, but all he could see was the pool of blood that had surrounded his father when he’d found him on the floor in the dojo.

Kakashi had sealed that room, and the memories that it contained, as soon as he could. Even now, it stood silent, a testament and a warning.

“How did she die?” Iruka asked after the silence had grown long.

“Childbirth,” Kakashi told him, trying to keep his voice from hitching. “I guess my father chose to remain with me rather than go with her.”

Iruka reached down to squeeze his hand. Kakashi took a steadying breath. “He cut all ties to his chakra as he watched her die. She took it with her.”

Iruka jerked. “What do you mean?”

“He was chakra dead. But it was a secret; Konoha couldn’t be defanged. So he still went on missions, but he couldn’t rely on any chakra to help him through them. I think… I think that’s why he was so vilified when he came back. People couldn’t believe that he couldn’t complete the mission and save his teammates at the same time. The legend had grown too big, and it swallowed him whole.”

Kakashi didn’t need to say anything about what happened next. Iruka knew that story as well as he did.

“Being chakra dead would affect you much more than me,” Kakashi told him. “I’m not constantly using my chakra to sense every chakra signature around me.”

Iruka frowned as he began dabbing at the cut with an antiseptic wipe. “Okay. Well, if that’s the downside, then what’s the upside?”

Kakashi huffed. “We’d know where each other are, always. We could send thoughts to one another, and there are instances of feeling each other’s emotions. More chakra, and chakra sharing; you’d be able to use my lightning chakra. I’d probably get to find out what being a sensor feels like.” He shrugged as Iruka changed wipes. “A commitment to each other; we wouldn’t be able to break up over something stupid. Or at all, really. Emotional support and closeness. Great sex.”

Iruka raised an eyebrow at the last one. “That sounds good, except for the fact that we wouldn’t be able to break up, and that we’d die together.”

“Well, like I said, it was made when marriage was ‘til death do us part.’ Except that death wouldn’t really part us. There are also records of abilities like sensing when the other is in pain, but that’s more nebulous.”

Iruka was silent as he made up butterfly bandages and put them over the wound. “How did you not dodge this? I’ve never seen you get hurt here before.”

Kakashi scowled. The cut went from just next to his armpit to the centre of his chest, on a diagonal sweep. “I’ve usually got my vest on. And I wasn’t wearing my binder either, just your shirt.”

Iruka stuck a butterfly bandage on, awkwardly trying to manoeuvre around his nipple while Kakashi watched bemusedly.

“Well, you should watch yourself,” Iruka muttered. “You don’t usually get this cut up from just facing down a few nin.”

Kakashi shrugged. “Just a few more scars. It’s not like I haven’t got many of those.”

Iruka finished and Kakashi rebound the area he’d been doctoring.

“Let me do your arm,” Iruka said, the sentence not a request. Kakashi gave it up and watched as Iruka started poking at it. “This one’s deeper.”

Iruka had nearly finished treating the sword slice on his arm when he spoke again. “It makes sense, what happened then.”

Kakashi grunted, not bothering to give an answer. He’d been drained enough this morning as it was, and now that all the adrenaline from the fight had worn off, he just wanted to go to sleep.

“You’re the most powerful ninja in the village, excepting Tsunade. And even then, your skills are in different areas. You could probably beat her in a one on one fight, but she’d do some damage. And you weren’t really ready to take on the role of Hokage three years ago, were you?”

“Not really. Not ever.”

Iruka was silent to that. “And I’m the most powerful sensor. I’ve got ties to every student I’ve taught over the last six years, and everyone knows me from either there or the mission desk. You have political ties, while I have social ones. Not to mention that I keep tabs on every ninja in the village and that we both have S level security clearance. If we wanted, we could make a dent. A big one.”

Kakashi watched him reason it out. The analytical part of him mind started turning over what Iruka was saying, finding every way they could use their skills to their advantage.

“Danzou sees us, separately, as assets. Together, we’re a threat,” Kakashi murmured.

“It’s more than that,” Iruka said. “If one of us died, we’d take out the other. It wouldn’t matter if we died or just became chakra dead; we’d be useless to him. Especially if you’re next in line for Hokage… Kakashi, if it became known that you were chakra bonded, they wouldn’t try to kill you personally. They’d try to kill me, because that would be like doing the same thing. Except I’m not a battle ninja.”

“I know,” Kakashi said, throat closing. He thought Iruka might be against it, if just because he didn’t want to be tied down to Kakashi. This was his way of being selfish, after all; if they did this, Kakashi could always count on Iruka being there, for the rest of his life. He wasn’t going to stay chakra dead if his partner was gone. It was a rational reason to turn him down, but he still felt a touch of darkness in his heart as he looked away from Iruka.

Iruka kept looking at his arm while he rebound it in clean bandages.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d accepted the Hatake seat on the Council?”

Of all the questions Iruka could have asked, that was not one he’d been expecting.

“Maa, Tsunade was right.” Kakashi rubbed a hand over his forehead and then tucked his head into the crook of his elbow. “I do plan ahead. And it’s not like we decide anything important in them,” he grumbled. “Hyuuga and Tsume fight, Shikaku looks like he falls asleep in every meeting, and Tsunade tries to not lose it at her two advisors.”

“Sounds eventful enough,” Iruka murmured. “Do you keep any food here, or do I have to go shopping?”

Kakashi’s heart tightened in fear as he imagined Iruka alone, outside the many protections of these walls. “I’ve got some food in the kitchen,” he rumbled, not trying to keep his eye open any longer. Iruka leaned down and kissed him lightly before getting up and leaving, probably to go to the kitchen to find said food.

“You can come out now,” Kakashi grumbled, wriggling his way under the covers of the bed.

Pakkun stuck his head out from under the bed. “Sounds serious, Boss,” he said. “I never thought I’d see the day when you settled down with a mate.”

Kakashi sighed. “Me either.” A pause. “I want him, Pakkun. I want him to stay.”

Pakkun curled up on the pillow next to his head. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Look, you gotta tell him that. How else is he gonna know?”

Kakashi didn’t answer him.

 

* * *

 

 

Iruka opened another cupboard… and pulled out _another_ box of ration bars.

“Damnit,” he muttered. Did the man ever eat anything else? There was enough ration bars here to probably last him hundreds of years. This was _not_ what Iruka had had in mind when he’d asked Kakashi if he kept any food here.

He stared at the box in his hands dejectedly. He’d go out anyway, but the wards that surrounded the compound shivered with power, and he didn’t want to mess with them. He would ask Kakashi to show him how to get in and out later; he’d felt the smoothing out of chakra that meant Kakashi had fallen asleep a few minutes ago.

He didn’t know what to think about what Kakashi had told him.

Chakra bonding? Yes, he’d heard of it. But it just seemed so… crazy. He frowned to himself as he reluctantly opened one of the boxes. He just needed a few days to think it over. Or a few weeks. He hardly thought that Kakashi would blame him for that.

He bit into the ration bar and fought with it for a few seconds as it refused to be separated from the rest of the bar. He finally was able to take a bite when he heard the clicking of nails on the hardwood floor behind him.

He turned to find two dogs, one with sunglasses and another with whisker marks on its cheeks behind him. Akino… and Guruko, that was it.

“What’s up?” Iruka asked, shoving the unchewable ration bar into his cheek so he could speak.

“Nothin’,” Akino shrugged. “Just wondered if we could have some as well.”

Iruka looked at the ration bar in his hand. “You guys _want_ to eat this?”

“Well, yeah,” Guruko said, sitting down to scratch his ear. “Boss gives them to us.”

Iruka stared at them for a few seconds before shrugging and upending a box for them. “Go wild,” he said, before grabbing another box and heading upstairs. Kakashi was asleep now, but he’d probably be hungry when he woke up. Until then, Iruka would get some sleep as well. He’d hardly been refreshed this morning, and then he’d had to fight a bunch of not-ANBU who were trying to kidnap him. And he still needed more info on them. Kakashi hadn’t talked about the imposters. If it weren’t for Anko, he was sure that they would have taken him while Kakashi was distracted.

Which reminded him, he was going to have to thank her. Somehow.

Iruka shook his head and headed back upstairs, more than ready to go to sleep himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have all 70k of this fic written, and 60k of the next fic in the series so.... I will be updating this? Promise it won't fall off the wagon. I've worked too hard on it, ahh


	3. Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue Iris symbolises faith.

Kakashi blinked his eye open when he felt the wards _ping_ lightly. Someone was at the gate of the compound, and was politely asking to enter. He looked over at where Iruka was sleeping, and slipped out of bed quietly; he didn’t want him waking up if he could help it. Iruka had received quite the shock when the Root agents had appeared, but Kakashi still feared what might have happened if Anko hadn’t shown up to help defend his lover. They could be separated, right now. Kakashi shivered. That wasn’t going to happen, ever, if he could help it. He made the hand sign for _guard_ , and Bull, the only one of his ninken who was awake that he could see, huffed slightly.

He put on his flak vest before leaving the main house, stalking towards the gates silently, keeping to the shadows in a way that made him nearly invisible without having to use chakra and alert anyone who knew how to look for it.

He relaxed minutely when he saw who it was; his kouhai was wearing his cat mask, but his pose was more relaxed than normal when he was on duty; he must have just been wearing the mask to make sure that no one interrupted him on his way here.

“Tenzou,” Kakashi murmured.

“Kakashi-senpai,” Tenzou said. “Can I come in?”

“Can you?” Kakashi asked, voice bored. He’d given Tenzou the so called ‘key’ to the Compound years ago, and he doubted that the other man would have come without it.

Tenzou dipped his head and stepped through the wards. The token that he had put on his dog tags was a simple disk that Kakashi had engraved with some seals and then smeared with some of his blood. If the person who had put their blood on the seals was within a certain radius when the key was used, it would let the person in without complaint. If not, however…

The wards didn’t fry his kouhai, so Kakashi supposed that this Tenzou must be the real one. He wouldn’t put it past Danzou to try and send a double while Tsunade was focused on other areas of the village.

“Do you want some tea?” Kakashi offered, leading the ANBU towards one of the side buildings where guests were housed. He didn’t want Iruka waking up to find them talking. Kakashi was likely to hear some unpleasant truths from his friend, and he’d need to think them through carefully for a way to phrase them so they wouldn’t scare Iruka too much. Or make him too angry; Iruka did stupid things when he let anger get the better of him.

“Kakashi-senpai, Tsunade-sama wants me to tell you that she’s talked with Danzou-dono,” Tenzou started. He watched as Kakashi rummaged through the cupboards to find something for them to drink out of.

“Because talking is the best course of action to take here,” Kakashi scowled, fishing out two cups.

“Your – history with Danzou-dono means that you have a personal and public grudge against him,” Tenzou murmured. “I also want him to face a court. You know what he did to me.”

Kakashi grimaced. “I know, I know. It’s just frustrating.”

“The wards here are good,” Tenzou said, taking the cat mask off and putting it down on the table next to him. “You both should be safe.”

Kakashi paused as he tried to find a kettle. “We should have been safe at Iruka’s apartment. Tenzou, I looked at those wards myself; Iruka delicately constructed them, in a way only someone with his abilities could manage. They were intertwined so tightly that any backlash should have taken out half the building. Instead, only one Root member was killed. It doesn’t make sense, unless Danzou knew what type of wards Iruka had around his apartment, and how to bypass them. He’s been watching for a long time; longer than I’ve been investigating chakra bonds. Maybe even before Iruka and I became more than acquaintances.”

Tenzou was frowning in the way of his that just made a slight crease appear between his eyebrows. Kakashi felt a pang looking at it; he used to tease Tenzou about that when they were both in ANBU, when things had been far simpler.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Kakashi said, putting a dusty tea pot on the bench. “I’m not sure that I could have disabled them without triggering the wards. They were excellent, as they should have been. Iruka’s skills lie in that area.” The tap still worked in here; he poured water into the pot and flicked on the stove so it would boil.

Tenzou looked pensive, staring at the table before him. “Tsunade-sama wants you to keep a low profile. Keep out of Danzou’s way, so he won’t have any excuse to go after you.”

“Hn,” Kakashi huffed. “So he attacks us and we’re the ones scampering in fear?”

“Just until this dies down,” Tenzou says. “You know how it has to be. If you go after him, he can make it look like you started it. Tsunade has to be the one with the evidence. He’s got a lot more experience with this type of politicking than we do.”

Kakashi sighed. He knew that he was right, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“I know, I know,” Kakashi said, waving his hand. “I just don’t like doing nothing. Tell me there’s something I can do to help. Anything.”

“You should stay out of it, and we’re not doing nothing, I promise,” Tenzou said lowly. “It’s difficult; Tsunade-sama can’t know for sure who is completely loyal and who isn’t.”

“Well, I am. You are. I’m pretty sure that Iruka doesn’t answer to him. We can trust Miho, Genma and Yuugao…” Kakashi trailed off as he realised Tenzou wasn’t looking at him. “What is it?”

“Because of my – former loyalties, I’ve been questioned about what happened.” He grimaced.

“What?” Kakashi asked, surprised. “That’s ridiculous. You haven’t worked for Danzou, in what, fifteen years?”

“And yet.”

Kakashi shook his head as he searched his cupboards for any tea. He found some behind an old pot in one of the cupboards, and narrowed his eye at it. Drinking it probably wouldn’t do them any harm…

“That’s ridiculous,” he repeated. “You’re loyal.” He could count the number of people he trusted with the fingers of one hand, and Tenzou was one of them.

“Tsunade-sama told me that she’s taken you off the mission roster for the next three weeks. You should stay here and recover.”

“And that means that I can’t have an ‘accident’ on any mission, hm?”

Tenzou frowned. “Yes, although she didn’t say that.”

Kakashi took the kettle off the stove as it started whistling. He looked at his kouhai from the corner of his eye; Tenzou looked tired. Sure, ANBU days were tough, but it was a different type of tiredness that Kakashi was looking at. One that was soul deep, rather than bone deep.

“I never thought I’d see you settling down,” Tenzou said, as Kakashi left the tea herbs to seep. “Every time I think about it, it feels surreal.”

Kakashi shrugged a shoulder, ducking his head so Tenzou wouldn’t see his blush. “Well. I wasn’t planning on it either. It just kind of… happened.”

Kakashi looked over his shoulder to see Tenzou smiling softly. “It’s good. I like it. It makes everything we do worth it. If you can find someone to be happy with, then I’m sure there’s hope for all of us.”

Kakashi poured the tea into two cups and put one in front of Tenzou.

“You make it sound so sappy, when you say it like that.”

“Well,” Tenzou chuckled, picking up his cup. “It kind of is.” He took a sip of the tea and Kakashi watched in amusement as he visibly fought to not spit it out. “Kakashi-senpai, this is terrible.”

“Hm,” Kakashi said, looking down at the suspicious liquid swirling in his cup. “I don’t know how long that tea was sitting there for.”

Tenzou looked at him in exasperation. “You never change, Kakashi.”

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at him in response.

 

* * *

 

Shikaru doodled on the edge of her page, bored out of her mind. Iruka-sensei hadn’t been teaching for the last week – _week!_ It was ridiculous – and every day they’d had a different ninja come in to ‘teach’ them. She’d run out of puzzles days ago, and Shikamaru-niisan had gone on a long mission and hadn’t come back yet.

“I can’t wait until Iruka-sensei comes back,” Akane muttered. She looked down from the chaos of the classroom to the plant in front of her. Shikaru watched as she made a hand seal and stared at the plant in front of her. Very slowly it turned, but went back to its original position once more when Akane released the jutsu.

“Ugh!” Akane exclaimed, pounding the desk either side of the plant. “Why won’t it stay where I put it?”

Shikaru looked at the sunflower, which was obviously facing away from Akane again. “Did you ask your mum for tips?”

“Did I ask my mum for tips,” Akane tittered, parroting her words back to her. “Of course I did! And she wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Maybe there’s a reason,” Shikaru tried suggesting. After all, she didn’t really know people who didn’t do things without a reason. Although, her family was a clan famous for its clever shinobi…

The door slammed open and Iruka-sensei stalked through.

“Iruka-sensei!” The class exclaimed happily. Shikaru had never seen them happier while in a classroom.

“Good morning everyone – I’m sorry I’ve been away for a few days. I hope you all behaved for your substitute teachers.”

Iruka-sensei looked at the class and Shikaru could see those in the front row trying not to quail.

“Well…” Their normal sensei said after several moments of staring. “I’ve heard that you’ve all been doing book work; how about we go outside for today’s lesson?”

The class erupted into cheers and noise as the students stood up from their desks. Shikaru sighed and followed her peers out the door… after being locked up for almost a week, things were going to get hairy when everyone finally got outside.

Iruka-sensei led them out to the field that bordered the woods of the Academy grounds. Shikaru was just wondering what type of exercise they would be doing when Airi poked her.

“Look!” The Inuzuka exclaimed, pushing her grey hair out of her face. It was quiet for her normally loud surprised cries. “The white ninja!”

Shikaru immediately looked where Airi was pointing. Sure enough, the ninja – ‘Kakashi-sensei,’ as Shikamaru-niisan had said – was lounging in the branches of one of the trees closest to the open field. He had a brightly coloured book in his hands and was reading it, apparently not paying attention to what was happening a scant twenty metres in front of him.

“What did you say your cousin said his name was?” Airi said, squinting at the figure.

“Kakashi-sensei,” Shikaru whispered back.

“What’s happening?” Chouko asked, coming up on their conversation. Airi pointed at Kakashi-sensei. “Hey, it’s the guy!”

“Keep it down,” Akane commented lowly from Shikaru’s right. “Wasn’t the whole point to keep an eye on him and Iruka-sensei without them knowing?”

“I can’t believe we didn’t catch him coming back into the village,” Airi said, annoyed.

The four girls turned pensive, and Shikaru looked to Iruka-sensei as he began talking.

“Now, I want four groups of three – Shikaru-chan, Hanabi-chan, Ryuu-kun and Yuuki-kun. Come over here, and you can be my squad leaders.”

 

* * *

 

Iruka arranged the kids into teams and made them ready for today’s exercise.

Kakashi shifted in the tree behind Iruka minutely, and Iruka took a split second to bask in the aura that his chakra gave out. Kakashi was rested, and though he might not admit it, quite content at the moment. It would be another few days before the jounin started getting antsy about sitting around, doing nothing, and Iruka would take all the time he could get to keep Kakashi off his feet and get him better. The sword wounds on his chest were closing nicely, and with some visits to Tsunade, they’d gotten an artificial boost that meant that they were almost back to full health.

The deep slices in Kakashi’s legs were another matter. If he hadn’t journeyed for several days on them, Iruka was sure that they would have healed quickly. But he’d lost a lot of blood, and while Tsunade’s efforts could do a lot, she had told him that only rest could restore the jounin the full, painless, use of his legs again.

With that in mind, she’d taken Kakashi off the mission roster for a full three weeks. Added to the time that he’d already had off, Kakashi would be in the village for over a month, which was the longest that he’d gone without a mission since this… thing between them had started.

Kakashi wasn’t taking the rest time completely seriously; if he had, he would have been back in the Compound, sleeping. As it was, he’d insisted on following Iruka on his first day back at the Academy in a week.

Iruka knew that there was more to it than Kakashi’s unwillingness to be doing nothing at home. The jounin was having trouble letting him out of his sight, ever since the not-ANBU – Kakashi had told him they were called Root – had tried to ambush him in his own apartment. Iruka was still feeling jittery about it – he had been attacked in the middle of the village, so he felt like he had a right to be – but right now he knew that there wasn’t anyone besides his class, Kakashi and himself within a few hundred metres. That did a lot to calm him down, but Kakashi didn’t have that ability.

Kakashi had told him a few days ago that ANBU were looking into the event, which was probably making him feel better. Although, knowing him, he probably wanted in on the action. Kakashi wasn’t ANBU anymore though, so Iruka didn’t think that he would be allowed. That just made Iruka worry – when Kakashi was told that he couldn’t do something, he was inclined to test those barriers. If the person who had sent a team to try and kidnap Iruka was willing to risk the repercussions of doing so, what would they do to a ninja who wasn’t supposed to be looking into what had happened?

So while Kakashi’s lurking was something that Iruka was sure he would tire of sooner rather than later, he indulged his lover for now – as it meant that he could also keep a close eye on Kakashi. He’d wean Kakashi of his presence later, when he was sure the jounin wasn’t going to try and do something stupid with his legs.

Iruka told the class that they’d all be completing a capture the flag mission, keeping Kakashi in the back of his mind as he did so.

“You’re all getting close to graduation,” Iruka told his class. “So I’ll make this serious – all jutsu is allowed, and you will all get one kunai and two shuriken each to use as you wish. Kakashi-sensei and I will be in the woods as well, and we will stop any fighting if we deem it to be excessively dangerous for this exercise.”

His students started shifting their weight, eyeing the other teams. Iruka quickly dealt out the weapons, and then grinned at them all.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Start!”

He jumped back into the branches above Kakashi, watching for what they would do first.

Unsurprisingly, Shikaru’s group was the first to move. With only a few whispered words, Shikaru led them into the woods.

 _If only she were more motivated and less shy,_ Iruka mused to himself.

Kakashi shifted his weight silently on the branch below him, nose stuck in his book. As long as his students didn’t see, Iruka really had no problem with the _Icha Icha_ books. He’d read them, and found them to honestly too formulaic for his liking, but he recognised a coping mechanism when he saw one. Kakashi could read all he wanted, as long as he didn’t make any – unfavourable impressions on Iruka’s students. That, he couldn’t forgive.

“You promised me a good showing from here Iruka,” Kakashi murmured, so quietly that if the breeze had been rustling the leaves, Iruka doubted he would have heard the other man.

“I’m pretty sure I know what’s going to happen,” Iruka said, just as quietly.

Sure enough, Airi took a step towards the two groups still remaining on the field. She jutted her chin forward and Ichimaru yipped from on her head.

“Hey!” She shouted. “Why don’t you guys fight me for your token! Winner gets it!”

Iruka sighed.

“Yeah?” Kenji said, stepping forward cockily. The large boy put his hand on his katana and grinned. “I bet I could beat you in under a minute.”

Airi bared her teeth at him, her black eyes flashing as she took up the challenge. “Oh come on. All you got is that thing you call a sword. You couldn’t do anything without that.”

Kenji stepped forward, puffing his chest out. “Yeah, like you’re any better with that scrawny thing you call a dog!” Iruka would be concerned if it were anyone else facing off against Kenji – he was the oldest in the class, at almost thirteen. Airi had turned ten a few weeks ago, but he knew that she and Ichimaru could handle themselves in a fight.

“Hey! Don’t insult Ichimaru!” Airi screeched.

“Airi-chan, this probably isn’t the best way to go about doing this,” Akane muttered to her teammate.

“Let _me_ deal with this,” Airi scowled, turning her back to Akane. Iruka resisted the urge to bury his head in his hands. It looked like his attempts to foster good relations between the two of them weren’t going quite as well as he had hoped. If they could learn to work together, the Inuzuka and Shizen Clans had compatible jutsu.

“Maa… Your students look eager to fight.”

“Airi and Kenji have never really liked each other.”

Kakashi huffed softly.

Airi brought up her hands and Iruka recognised the hand sign that the Inuzuka Clan used to take on some of their more dog like traits.

Well, at least this was going to be interesting.

 

* * *

 

Kakashi flipped a page of _Icha Icha Paradise_ , mostly paying attention to the students that were facing off on the field below and not really reading his book.

The Inuzuka released a flash of chakra and Kakashi watched as her nails and teeth grew a little sharper. The boy with the sword rolled his wrist, warming it up, and fell into a simple kata pose. Kakashi looked at it with a critical eye, and grudgingly admitted that it was good – he doubted he could have done any better. The Inuzuka would have her work cut out for her.

He flicked another page and resisted the urge to move his legs again. They were cramping and he’d been stretching them minutely while he’d been sitting there, but perhaps this excursion hadn’t been such a great idea after all.

“I can feel your chakra roiling,” Iruka muttered above him. “Are your legs okay?”

“Hm,” Kakashi replied, to show that he’d heard.

“I told you that you shouldn’t come today,” Iruka said, moving so he could look down at Kakashi. Kakashi kept his eye on the pages in front of him.

“Maybe,” Kakashi eventually muttered. The Inuzuka girl had just dodged a particularly quick slice of the sword. There was something about her chakra that felt familiar. Perhaps it was just because he could feel the electricity in the air. If he were in charge of the girl’s training, he’d have started her on nature manipulation years ago.

“You can go home now, if you want.” Iruka’s eyes were fixed on the fight, probably ready to leap in if the sword got too close to the girl.

“It’s not really ‘home,’ Iruka,” Kakashi drawled. “Your apartment is still getting the roof fixed.”

“Ahh,” Iruka murmured. “Sorry.”

The silence between them lasted for a few seconds as Iruka probably cursed himself for bringing up the topic they’d been avoiding for the past few days. The dog took a bite out of the swordsman’s leg, the young boy screeching and hopping around as he tried to detach the pup.

“It’s fine,” Kakashi said. “It’s not like I can’t live there. When your apartment’s finished is soon enough for us to move back there.”

“Hmm,” Iruka hummed. “You should still go back. You need your rest, Kakashi.”

Kakashi snapped his book shut and tucked it into a pocket. “Alright.” The swordsman nicked the Inuzuka; Kakashi could smell the blood. Iruka tensed on the branch above him. “I’ll head back.”

He’d seen enough to know that Iruka’s class wasn’t going to tire him out too much, and he knew that he’d been quite clingy over the last few days. He always made sure he knew where Iruka was, but since the attack he’d been letting him know that Kakashi was not letting him out of his view. Root was unlikely to attack with so many witnesses, and even Danzou would hesitate before he ordered the next generation of promising genin be killed in the middle of the village.

That, as well as Tenzou coming over a few days ago and had informing him of what Tsunade was doing and what she wanted him to do until she confronted Danzou about his actions meant that Kakashi was secure in leaving Iruka to his own devices.

“I’ll go,” Kakashi murmured again, and curled his legs up to drop to the grass beneath the tree, ignoring the twinges in his legs. He refused the urge to shunshin away, digging his hands into his pockets and skulking into the shadows of the trees so he didn’t draw the attention of Iruka’s students.

He moved across the grounds quickly and soon found himself on the streets of Konoha once more. Those that recognised him didn’t approach him, and he could ignore their whispers easily enough.

His feet were on the road that led away from the Compound, and he sighed to himself quietly. Well, he’d been meaning to go and see Anko anyway.

By the time he arrived outside Iruka’s apartment building, the sun had moved to shine directly above Konoha. While an onlooker might have thought that he was simply strolling through the village, his legs were telling a different story. He didn’t allow it to affect his gait, but the pain was a distraction.

The stairs were trying, and he had to stop on the second floor. He squeezed his eye shut and then glared at the stairwell intently. Many people had buckled under that stare; most had quickly given up the information that he wanted from them. His gaze was feared in all the five elemental nations, and in all of those that were in between.

The stairs looked back at him, silently defiant.

Kakashi bit his cheek and continued up the staircase.

There was vibrant yellow tape around Iruka’s apartment, and he could hear hammering from the floor above them where repairmen were fixing the hole in the roof of the apartment.

Kakashi wondered if Iruka even wanted to move back here; it might hold memories that were too potent, now. If that was the case, then he would have to start looking for other places to live. As much as he had told Iruka that he didn’t mind living at the Compound, it wasn’t somewhere that he wanted to make his permanent residence. The last time he’d lived there for over a month at a time had been when he was six years old and his father had still been alive.

He resisted the urge to spit the blood that he’d drawn from biting the inside of his cheek and swallowed instead. He was stalling, not wanting to knock on Anko’s door. He could feel her chakra inside, and she was standing still, obviously aware of his presence as well. The longer he stood here, the more of an idiot he would look.

Kakashi knocked.

Anko hesitated before she answered the door, and Kakashi smiled. Now she was the one who looked like she didn’t want to talk, so some of the blame he might have reluctantly shouldered was put down. They were on equal footing again, which was something that he would need when going into this conversation, as Anko was currently in the possession of information that might seem trivial in the scheme of things, but was deeply important to him.

Anko slowly crossed to the door. When she opened it, she had a scowl on her face.

“This was _not_ how I imagined spending my last day off.”

“Anko-san,” Kakashi greeted pleasantly. “How good it is to see you.”

“Cut the crap, Kakashi-san. Are you going to come in or hover in the hallway all day like a lost pigeon?”

“Why, how kind of you to invite me inside,” Kakashi said. Anko stepped out of the way, and he hesitated a moment before stepping over the threshold. Anko’s wards fizzed around him for half a second before dissipating.

Anko’s apartment was a mix of warm browns and purples. The kitchen was old fashioned, to the point where Kakashi thought that the fridge might actually still use ice instead of electricity to run. It exuded a homely air that ended two inches from Anko’s skin. She was taut, her hair put up primly, and all her gear but her sandals and flak vest were on.

“I didn’t bring your bowl back,” Kakashi said, dropping the sickly happiness that he’d put into his tone earlier. “But seeing as you saw what happened, I’m sure you won’t mind if I hold onto it for another week or two.”

“If the bowl even made it out of there,” Anko muttered. “I saw the state the kitchen was in when I left.”

Kakashi winced. It had been pretty bad.

“Did anyone come by to talk to you about what happened?” Kakashi asked instead of lamenting the probable death of Anko’s kitchenware.

“Yeah,” Anko said, retreating into her kitchen. “ANBU. Cat and Boar. Just the standard stuff; don’t talk about it to anyone, report anything you think may need to be reported, yadda yadda. I told them I just heard crashing down that hall that seemed a _touch_ too violent for you and Iruka to be getting it on and went to investigate. That’s all.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the ‘touch too violent,’ but otherwise didn’t react in any way. “I see.”

Anko grimaced. “I don’t suppose you can tell me what’s going on?”

“Not really,” Kakashi replied after a beat. “But they weren’t ANBU. Just pretending to be them, likely so they could get around the village without anyone getting in their way.”

Anko’s frown turned thoughtful. Kakashi knew that behind her excesses, Anko was a deviously clever woman; if he gave her too many pieces of the puzzle, she would find the missing parts by herself. And he didn’t know how much she already knew about Iruka.

Sure enough, she continued his sentence. “They were surprised to find you there. Otherwise they would have sent more than four, even if you are injured.” Kakashi inclined his head. He’d found out what Anko knew, had thrown her a few bones, and now wanted to talk about the real reason he was here. “They must have been after Iruka, then.”

“Maybe so,” Kakashi granted.

Anko looked him up and down, and decided that she’d gotten all that she could out of him. “Although, I’m not sure that that’s what you came to talk to me about.”

“Not really, no,” Kakashi murmured.

Anko looked at him silently for a few seconds. “I’m not an asshole,” she said eventually. “I haven’t told anyone, and I don’t intend to.”

Kakashi looked at the ground, resisting the urge to shift his weight and look more uncomfortable than he probably already looked. “Thanks,” he said, voice gruff.

Anko shrugged. “It’s not really something that you should have to corner me about, anyway. But some people are idiots.” She smirked at him and sat down on one of the stools at her kitchen bench. “Actually, I’m pretty impressed that you’ve managed to keep it a secret. Ninja are usually pretty good at ferreting those out. Although you probably have more secrets than most.”

“I discourage people who try to look into my personal life,” Kakashi said, sounding bored and hoping that Anko wouldn’t notice how tense he was.

“Yeah, that discouragement probably takes the form of a knife in the dark,” Anko muttered.

Kakashi just raised an eyebrow.

“Huh,” Anko murmured. “So, how many people know? Am I now part of the inner circle?”

Most of the people he’d grown up with would know, but most of the people he’d grown up with were dead, lost to the war. The jounin that were left wouldn’t say anything, even if they did remember, it was all so long ago. Half the people at the hospital probably knew, but they had that convenient doctor-patient confidentiality thing going on, and Kakashi only went to Tsunade or Juuna if he needed a check-up, anyway. The Root agents that had come to Iruka’s apartment would have had to have been blind to miss it, and ANBU knew as well – but what went on in ANBU, stayed in ANBU. You didn’t tell anyone anything as soon as you were out of uniform. Outside of that, there were only a few, like Gai and Iruka and Jiraiya. Honestly, there were worst people who could have found out about him besides Anko. She was ex-ANBU, in Intelligence, and she’d been more than willing to talk to him when he’d been drawing up the seal that kept Sasuke’s curse mark asleep.

Of course, she didn’t need to know any of that.

“Hm,” Kakashi just hummed and smiled at her, before walking out of her apartment.

To his relief, she didn’t come after him. He decided to finally listen to his screaming legs, and turned towards the road that would eventually lead him back to the Hatake Compound.

Shiba and Uuhei met him when he was coming up the road, smelling his approach long before he got within their range of sight.

“Boss,” Shiba growled.

“Report,” Kakashi said tiredly, looking forward to sitting down.

“No movement around the Compound,” Uuhei said in her quiet voice, low enough that Kakashi always had to half strain to hear her. “And Pakkun is complaining about only eating ration bars.”

Kakashi sighed as he unlocked the gate to the Compound, hearing its soft _clink_ as it shut and the momentary tightening of chakra that signalled that the wards had once more closed around the grounds. Safe.

He didn’t bother responding to the six of his ninken that weren’t currently on guard duty, feeling them swarm around his feet and follow him to his bedroom, where he promptly shrugged off his flak vest, outer shirt and hitai-ate, before collapsing on the bed.

His dogs settled themselves around him, and Kakashi let himself drift off to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Iruka let himself into his apartment quietly.

In the two weeks it had taken for the repairs to be finished, Iruka and Kakashi had fallen into a routine. Iruka would head off to work in the mornings, and he would then keep a tab on Kakashi throughout the day. Kakashi would leave the Compound in the afternoon, and would walk around Konoha, meeting up with other blurry chakra signatures on the way. Kakashi had been fine for the last few days, so he had started his training again, doing something that left him drained when he came back to the Compound. When Iruka asked, he only said that he was working with the Sharingan and that he’d been doing that since he was fourteen, so Iruka shouldn’t worry about it. That had just made him fret _more_ and he had told Kakashi that _,_ so Kakashi had compromised by always telling Iruka where he would be working with the eye and had promised that he would get someone to train with him so he wouldn’t collapse by himself.

Most of the time, the spotter was Kurenai, and when she was on a mission, Gai or Genma would step in for her. While that _did_ make Iruka feel better, Kakashi still refused to admit that being chakra drained would mean the recovery of his legs would take longer. Of course, messing with the Sharingan wasn’t a new thing – it’d been going on for a few years now. Almost every time Iruka would feel his chakra leak and spark, and then bleed out of him, although Iruka no longer had to go and peel him off the ground of whatever training field he’d picked, so he must be getting better at _whatever_ it was that he was doing. Sometimes Iruka wanted to tear his hair out over the things Kakashi did; he honestly didn’t think the supposed genius thought them through half the time.

Tsunade had given him a quick check up and pronounced him healed, and told him to get the paper work filed on his own time, since she had more than enough to deal with.

Really, he wasn’t looking forward to it. The past few weeks with Kakashi had been nice. Really, really nice. Having Kakashi around all the time; growing closer to the ninken; seeing how Kakashi dealt with normal life when he wasn’t recovering from a mission or preparing to head out on one was strange, but Iruka had decided that he liked what he saw.

All that, of course, was on top of thinking about Kakashi’s proposal.

Well, it hadn’t been a proposal in the most technical of senses. Kakashi had never specifically said the words to him, but admitting what he’d been looking into had pretty much told Iruka how serious he was about their relationship. They’d been friends ever since Iruka was twenty and needing guidance in his life – the talk where Kakashi had helped him get over his worry for Naruto and his role in teaching him at the Academy had been the beginning of it. Now he knew that he was one of the first relationships that Kakashi had formed after leaving ANBU. He’d gotten closer to Gai, as well some of the other jounin who had nothing to do with the shadowy side of Konoha’s already shady ninja, but Iruka had really been the first person outside that part of Konoha that Kakashi still regularly interacted with.

They’d been _together_ for almost three years now. While that might not seem that long for some civilian couples, any ninja would be impressed by their track record.

Iruka had been thinking about it for several weeks, and he’d asked a few questions in that time, more information than anything. Kakashi had told him everything that he knew when Iruka asked, showing that his research had been more in depth than he’d let on. They hadn’t had a sit down talk about the risks and what it would mean for _them,_ but they would soon. Iruka just needed to gather his thoughts first.

Iruka focused on the silver that he knew almost as well as he knew his own chakra signature. Kakashi was in the same place that he’d been for the last few hours – the hospital. He brought it on himself by insisting that he see only one jounin-medic, so he had to wait until she had space for him in what was probably her busy schedule. Iruka had asked why he couldn’t just ask Tsunade to certify him for missions again, but apparently a regular medic was needed for administrative purposes.

It was dark inside the apartment; he’d only gotten the message that the repairs were complete this afternoon, while on shift at the mission desk. For a while he’d been sure that he was going to be kicked out, his landlord not willing to put up with his ‘shinobi nonsense,’ but then Kakashi had come in and promised to pay all repair costs and get the building a state of the art new heater if he allowed them to stay. There’d still been grumbles after that, but Iruka hadn’t received an eviction notice, so he supposed everything had turned out well enough.

He took a breath in and flicked on the light.

There wasn’t any building dust from the construction lying around, but that was probably the only thing in his favour. His furniture as well as what remained of his couch had been moved to the far corner of the kitchen so that it wouldn’t interfere with the repairs. They hadn’t done anything for the kunai holes and burn marks on his carpet, but there was no longer a hole in his roof.

Iruka found that he couldn’t stand it anymore.

He found himself out on the small balcony on his floor, overlooking the Eastern Marketplace.

“I wouldn’t blame you if you moved.”

Iruka tensed – he must have truly been rattled, if he hadn’t noticed Anko moving towards him. Her chakra was smooth in a way that reminded Iruka of the snakes she utilised in her attacks; imprinted by even bumps that swirled around the mark on her neck. Iruka was sure that she didn’t even know they were there. Most people didn’t know what their chakra looked like.

Tsunade’s was the pinnacle of healing green: the glow that emanated from any healer’s hands was their chakra, but Tsunade took that to the next level. Naruto’s chakra was happy and sparkling and _bright,_ but if he looked at it too hard, the dark red pulsing undertones became quickly apparent. Kakashi’s was a silver beacon tainted by the red of the Sharingan, that churned and sparked in equal amounts.

“I think that if anyone broke into my apartment and beat me and my somehow-significant-other up, I’d be pretty upset as well.”

Iruka shrugged and turned to face Anko. “It’s silly. Don’t worry about it.”

Anko didn’t say anything, looking at him with a pensive expression. “It’s not silly, Iruka-san. Places can evoke bad memories. I promise I won’t hold it against you if you move out.”

Iruka huffed out a laugh at that. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Anko moved to stand beside him on the balcony, slitting her eyes as she looked over at the many people who were still in the Marketplace. “So are you? Going to move out?”

Iruka sighed and didn’t answer. He’d thought about it, of course, but he’d told himself that he was being silly and that he’d get over it once he saw his apartment again. Apparently that wasn’t the case.

“I’ve lived here for a long time,” Iruka murmured. “That’s all.”

Anko tilted her head when she looked at him. “Well, change can be good. Your place is pretty small – Kakashi’s dogs probably don’t appreciate it. And if you decide to have kids, then you’re going to need a bigger space, definitely.”

Iruka stared at her. “Uh, Anko –”

“I know, I know,” Anko said, waving her hand around. “But if Kakashi doesn’t want to carry them, there are other ways. You’re good with kids, and neither of you are getting any younger, so you should ask him if he wants to have some rugrats around.”

Iruka stared at her as she kept smiling.

“My _point_ is,” Anko continued, “that you should move out, if that’s what you’re thinking right now. It doesn’t get any easier, that feeling, and it doesn’t go away. Don’t let it fester.”

Iruka looked back at his shadowy apartment door and thought about it for three seconds. That was as long as he needed to decide that Anko was probably right. “Okay,” he said reluctantly. Then he sighed, already wondering if there were any good apartments up for sale or rent.

“Why the sigh?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Apartment hunting is one of the worst things,” Iruka muttered.

Anko just grinned at him. “Well, you can start on that later. For now, you should definitely treat me to some dango, since my excellent advice saved you two to three months of denial.”

Iruka huffed but followed her down the stairs anyway. He was going to miss her, this eccentric neighbour of his.

 

* * *

 

Kakashi slumped even further down into the uncomfortable hospital chair he was sitting on in an attempt to blend in and look unthreatening. The sharp matron that ran this floor of the hospital had been there for almost fifteen years now, and you ignored her at your own peril. But Kakashi had been in and out of the hospital for longer than she’d had her medical career, so he still congratulated himself on having the upper hand. He wasn’t quite sure what ‘the upper hand’ in this case meant, but at least she didn’t order him around or tell him to leave when he had been sitting in her waiting room for almost four hours.

By his count, Juuna should have been out of surgery for ten minutes. She should be getting her appointment list right… about…

“Kakashi-san!”

Kakashi let himself smile a little bit.

“Ahh, Juuna. Thank you for seeing me.”

“Of course, of course,” Juuna said. “Come with me, and we can take a look at you.”

Kakashi followed her back into her examination room and sat on the bed.

“What did you do to yourself this time?” Juuna asked, looking resigned.

“I’m glad you think so highly of me,” Kakashi drawled. “I just need a doctor to file a health check that lets me be put back on the mission roster.”

“So I didn’t get to see the original battle-wounds.” Juuna smiled, snapping on gloves. “Show me the damage.”

Kakashi slipped off his shirt and let Juuna look at the healed slices on his chest and arms. “These look good. Mostly healed, although this one was quite deep.” She tapped the one that ran along his chest from his armpit. “You should have come and gotten that stitched up.”

“Maa, I’m still alive,” Kakashi murmured.

“But you went through more pain than you had to, since you don’t take any of the painkillers I give you. Don’t think I don’t notice.” She frowned at him and Kakashi shrugged ever so slightly. Juuna shook her head, sighing, as she motioned for him to put his shirt back on.

“Those weren’t so bad; I’m assuming that you have a real reason for being here?”

Kakashi sighed and hoisted his legs up onto the bed. Juuna frowned as he unwrapped them and winced at the thick bands of scar tissue that cut into the back of his calves.

“Damnit Kakashi,” she hissed. She knew better than to ask about how he’d gotten them, but she shot him a worried look anyway.

“They’re better now,” Kakashi told her. “Mostly,” he added, under his breath.

Juuna raised an eyebrow and her palm started glowing with chakra. Kakashi waited patiently as she looked them over.

“You got close to your tendons here,” Juuna said. “And then they were ripped more. I’m assuming you travelled on them?”

“Three days of running,” Kakashi told her, giving her his best eye smile. She didn’t look impressed.

“I’m surprised you can walk at all without bad pain,” Juuna muttered, looking at him in concern.

“Tsunade’s had a few sessions with them,” Kakashi murmured.

“Well, that will help anything,” Juuna said with good humour. “Honestly, your recuperation rate is extraordinary. You know, I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve got this idea that I’m currently writing a paper about… How high chakra usage could lend itself to better cell regeneration. There’s been some really interesting research –”

“Juuna.”

“Ahh,” she said, ducking her head. “Sorry. You probably don’t want to hear about it.”

“It sounds interesting,” Kakashi said. “But I do need your report within the next half hour if I want to get it filed by the end of the day.”

“Of course.” Juuna nodded. “Kakashi. Your legs are as healed as they’re going to be without extensive rest and therapy. You can move and run on them now, but I fear that if you channel chakra through them too harshly the tendons will rip and _will_ be permanently damaged.”

“How long until you judge they’d be fully healed?”

Juuna bit her lip and the chakra around her palm glowed brighter before fading away. “Two months of rest and recovery. Then they’ll be fully functional again.”

Kakashi grimaced and looked away. The silence hovered between them for a few seconds.

“You know I can’t wait that long,” Kakashi said, voice rough.

Juuna sighed. “I know. But Kakashi, I’m serious about your legs. I think you should keep off them for another month, at least.”

Kakashi started rewrapping his legs in silence. “Alright. Can you write up the report for Tsunade?”

Juuna went over to her filing cabinet and pulled out a form. She filled in a few spaces and then paused to look at him.

“What do you need me to say?”

Kakashi shook his head. She knew that his situation was much more complicated than most people who came through her doors – she’d write whatever he asked, because she knew that he wouldn't fuck around with his medical records unless he actually had to. “Say what you want, Juuna. I come for your honesty.” Juuna huffed and then wrote out a half page report. She handed it over to Kakashi, who then bowed. “Thank you.”

“Just make sure I don’t see you in this room again too soon,” Juuna said, like she usually did.

Kakashi left the hospital with the paper tucked into his pocket. Juuna _was_ always honest with him. He appreciated that.

He headed towards the Hokage’s Tower and walked up the outside of the wall to settle himself in her window.

“Brat, what are you doing here?”

Kakashi held out the report, and Tsunade snatched it from his hand. Kakashi resisted the urge to reach for his book and instead looked over the village. He could almost see Iruka’s apartment building from here.

“Did you read this?” Tsunade asked, her voice resigned.

“Juuna told me most of it, yes.”

“Kakashi, I can’t have you out of commission for another two months. It’s bad enough that I had you in the village for one.”

“Send me out on something that shouldn’t have much action then,” Kakashi said, scowling at the fact that he was even suggesting this. “Something political that you need someone you trust to handle.” He’d always hated assignments like those, but Tsunade was right. And yet, Juuna couldn’t be ignored. This was the only middle ground he could think of.

“Gah.” Tsunade had obviously come to the same conclusion. “Alright. Let me think.”

Shizune had come to stand next to him as he lazed on the windowsill. “May I see your legs, Kakashi-san?”

Kakashi unwrapped his shins _again_ and suffered through first Shizune and then Tsunade poking at him.

“There’s something in Grass that you might be suited for,” Tsunade told him as she poured more of her chakra into his legs. “But it’s the type of thing you hate – personal problems messing with politics and civilians getting caught in the crossfire. And you’d have to be supporting the one who is technically responsible for their deaths.”

Kakashi clenched his jaw and didn’t reply as he felt the too familiar itch of healing take shape in his legs again. There was only so much that Tsunade could do before his system overloaded with her chakra, and with the delicate balance he had to keep every second with the Sharingan, she had to be more careful with him than with her other patients.

Kakashi felt her chakra spike, and she withdrew her hand from his leg.

“That will do for now. I already gave the mission to Shikaku and his team; he’ll be glad to get out of it. I’ll send someone to tell him and to deliver the mission to you. You can pick three team members, one of which should be Kurenai. The others I’ll leave to you. Pick ANBU, if you want.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, probably thinking that he’d want Tenzou.

“Hm,” Kakashi hummed. “When do we need to leave?”

“You’ll like this,” Tsunade said cheerfully. “There’s a vanguard coming to escort you directly. To the Land of Grass. Via horseback.”

Kakashi suddenly felt unhappy that he’d felt compelled to take up a political mission. This sounded like shit, and she hadn’t even gotten past the destination yet. “Can I back out of it, or is it already too late?”

“Yeah, I’d thought you’d like it. But it gives you a chance to rest while still being on a mission.”

“Can I take Iruka?”

Tsunade looked at him shrewdly. “How’s that going?”

Kakashi swallowed. “It’s going. I think. I told him about the chakra bonding. He asked about it, asked about me, and then went and fed my dogs rations.”

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow. “Iruka is a smart man. If he hasn’t outright told you yes or no, then he’s thinking about it. Which is fair enough, but maybe he needs a push.”

Kakashi huffed. “Are you trying to get us to bond? I thought you opposed it.”

Tsunade grimaced. “I still think that it’s not a good idea, even though the benefits you’ll get from it are nice. A Hokage can’t have any weaknesses that others can easily exploit. How many people know about you and Iruka now?”

Kakashi winced. “More than I ever wanted.”

Tsunade nodded. “I know. Kakashi, I told you that this was going to end badly.”

“It’s _not!”_

Tsunade blinked, startled, and Shizune looked worried. The ANBU in the corner shifted.

“It’s not going to end badly,” Kakashi whispered. “I won’t let it.”

Tsunade didn’t say anything for a long minute. Her hazel eyes studied him and Kakashi tried not to show how uncomfortable her piercing gaze made him.

“This is something that even you can’t control,” she said softly.

Kakashi shrugged and looked away.

“Because of who both of you are, I can’t ignore you. I usually leave this up to those involved…”

“I understand,” Kakashi said, voice low. “But he hasn’t said yes or no yet. Leave it until then to pass your decision. Please.”

Tsunade pursed her mouth before nodding. “Alright. But no, Iruka can’t go. It isn’t that type of mission.”

Kakashi bit his tongue until he tasted blood. He knew what type of mission this was going to be, then.

“You should be scheduled to leave the day after tomorrow. I assume you’ll be able to gather your team by yourself?”

Kakashi nodded and Tsunade turned back to her desk, an obvious dismissal. Kakashi inclined his head to Badger and slipped back out the window, intending to go find Shikaku so that he could get the mission scroll.

After all, he had a mission to plan.

 

* * *

 

“Ah, sorry, I can’t,” Genma said when Kakashi told him what he was here for. “Shikaku already asked, but I turned him down as well, don’t worry.”

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow. Genma was one of the most skilled nin and kenjutsu users he’d come across in his time, but was forever cursed to tokubetsu jounin because of his complete lack of any genjutsu abilities. He had also been in Delta when Kakashi had led it, which meant that he was one of the few people that Kakashi trusted completely.

“Do you have another mission lined up?” Kakashi asked.

“Well.” Genma paused, chewing his senbon more aggressively than normal. “Kind of. Not really.” Kakashi just looked at him until Genma sighed. “I’ve been picked as a jounin-sensei for this cycle, since there is such a large number of kids graduating. I can’t just leave them as soon as I get them, I suppose.”

“Ah.” Kakashi didn’t try very hard to hide his amusement, and Genma growled at him before closing the door in his face.

Now he needed to find another medic with enough combat experience and common sense to handle themselves in a tense political situation, preferably someone who knew how to work together with the rest of the team, in less than two days. Kakashi chewed over the problem as he headed towards his next possible recruit.

 

* * *

 

“Cat,” Kakashi said, tucking his hands into his pockets.

The ANBU turned to him and Kakashi held out a sheaf of papers casually.

“Form 55-2b. Report tomorrow morning at eight in village gear at the usual spot.”

Cat nodded to him and returned to his post outside Tsunade’s door. Kakashi could feel Boar’s eyes on him, even though he never turned his head or moved his stance.

Tenzou was the easy one to rope into this; he’d complain quietly on the mission for sure, but he couldn’t turn it down now.

 

* * *

 

Asuma answered the door when Kakashi knocked at Kurenai’s apartment.

“Ah, Kakashi-san. Come in.”

Kakashi followed him into the kitchen where Kurenai was cooking. “Kakashi!” She said. “I wasn’t expecting you to come by.”

“Maa, you should be told who is going to lead your next mission. I think that’s just common courtesy.”

Kurenai looked at him strangely before her eyes widened. “Are you… Are you telling me that _you’re_ replacing Shikaku?”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow as her jaw dropped.

“Kurenai?” Asuma asked, sounding faintly alarmed.

“Well,” she said. “I thought that this mission was going to be interesting enough with Shikaku as mission head. When I told you that we needed to make more time for each other, I’m fairly certain that I didn’t mean we should go on political missions together.” Kurenai looked torn between amused and exasperated. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Well, you know me, always aiming to please,” Kakashi replied.

“Not too much, I’d hope,” Asuma muttered, fingers twitching like he wanted to reach for one of his ever present cigarettes.

Kurenai looked at him from the corner of her eye, and Asuma swallowed. Kakashi shrugged a shoulder. If Kurenai wasn't looking forward to this mission either, it really didn't bode well for the future. 

 

* * *

 

The lights were off in the apartment Kakashi went to next. He didn’t mind, tinkering with the wards for a second before letting himself in. He’d have to ask Iruka if he had any pointers for the apartment’s owner.

Kakashi had never been here before, but he knew the place. He made sure that he knew where the people he cared about were, and the places that they lived were often where he could find them the most.

A medic’s role on the team was often the most critical, and Kakashi had no intentions of endangering this mission. He might grouch, but he knew how important it was. He had recruited only the best for his team, and that extended to their medic.

He knew that she usually came home around this time, so he was sure he didn’t have to wait long.

As if Kakashi’s thoughts had summoned her, the door was pushed open, and a girl with vibrant pink hair jumped through.

She’d grown taller. Gone were the dresses; she was wearing a chuunin’s flak vest and had fingerless gloves on her hands. Her hair was still short, and Kakashi couldn’t see much of the timid girl who had fawned over Sasuke – she had grown, in more ways than one. Confident, Sakura leapt forward to challenge whoever was in her apartment.

“Yo,” Kakashi said, grinning at her as he deflected two kunai and avoided one punch.  

Sakura gaped at him before falling back a step. “Kakashi-sensei!” She shrieked. “ _What are you doing in my house?_ ”

“Hmm,” Kakashi hummed. “Well. I’ve got a mission the day after tomorrow, and I want you to come along. I’ve already asked Tsunade, and she already said yes, so don’t worry about that.”

Sakura struggled with that for a few seconds before going to sit heavily on one of the stools in her kitchen. She steepled her fingers and stared at him. “And this explains why you broke into my house, _how_ exactly?”

He hadn’t really thought that one through. “Well, I know you live here, and I didn’t want to interrupt you at the hospital.” More like he didn’t want to get cornered by Juuna for a check-up at the hospital, but she didn’t need the details.

“And you couldn’t have waited outside?” Sakura asked, clearly annoyed.

“Well I needed to see how you’d react to an unusual situation, if you’d get back up or if you would take it on yourself, if you would gather more information or if you would leave.” Kakashi leaned back against the wall. “And also your wards are shit, so it didn’t take much to get past them. You should do something about that.”

“My wards are mainly there to put off anyone who tries to pick the lock on the door,” Sakura told him. But she’s less certain now than she was even after she realised it was him. “You don’t normally lay out the lesson like that. You normally do something erratic and expect is to cope with it however we want.”

“Well you’re not a genin anymore, are you?” Kakashi asked her. “You’re a chuunin now. And I don’t have to deal with Naruto or Sasuke either, and they weren’t going to take direct lessons from me. They only learnt through doing. You can do that as well, but it’s easier for me to just spell it out for you, so you know what to look for. Get it?”

Sakura blinked a few times before shaking her head, not to show that she didn’t understand, but that she was exasperated. “Okay. Fine. What mission is it?”

“A political one to Grass. I’m taking a team mate of mine and Kurenai, so you’ll be primarily functioning as our medic. Like I said, Tsunade’s already approved everything, so you don’t need to do anything but showing up at a briefing tomorrow and pack for the day after.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Kakashi smiled. She was in.

 

* * *

 

Iruka wasn’t in his newly repaired apartment.

Kakashi couldn’t say he was surprised. He’d been waiting for Iruka to realise that he probably wanted to move out, but he could be stubborn about things like this and Kakashi didn’t want to push it.

Kakashi couldn’t feel Anko’s chakra in the building either, but the balcony had both their scents on it. A guess told him that they’d left together. Another guess led him to the conclusion that they were going to eat; it was around an acceptable time to eat dinner, and Anko had always been one to seek out food as a comfort.

That left few places for the both of them to be, so Kakashi set out searching. He tried Iruka’s favourite places first, but unable to fine Iruka in any of them, racked his brain for the kunoichi’s poison of choice.

After remembering Anko’s unholy love of dango, he set out for the shop nearest to the apartment building. Sure enough, he found them both there, sitting at a bench and laughing.

Kakashi took a moment to drink in the sight of Iruka laughing before Iruka turned around and gestured for Kakashi to sit down.

“Hey,” he said, grinning. “How’d things go at the doctors?”

“Alright.” Kakashi shrugged, shifting so his leg was pressed up against Iruka’s. “Been tapped for a mission the day after tomorrow. It’ll be good to stretch my legs and get back in the field.”

Iruka’s eyes turned understanding. “Yeah. Look, I was thinking, about the apartment –”

“Iruka-san here wants to move out,” Anko interrupted after a massive burp. “He’s treating me to dango to make up for the fact I’ll be losing one of my most interesting and tolerable neighbours.”

Iruka’s face turned amused. “If that’s how you want to look at it, Anko.”

Ahh. He hadn’t thought that Iruka would want to move this quickly.

“I know you paid for the repairs,” Iruka said, rolling one of the dango sticks between his fingers nervously. “But –”

“It’s fine,” Kakashi told him. “I’ve got to use the inheritance for something, after all. And I’d rather spend it on you than anything else.”

Iruka ducked his head as Kakashi raised his hand for his own plate of dango. If he was going to spend one of his last few meals in the village here, he might as well enjoy it. There was no knowing how long the situation in Grass would take. He’d read the mission scroll, and the whole things just looked like a steaming pile of shit where the best course of action was to avoid at all costs. But no, he’d had to go and volunteer for it.

Story of his life.


	4. Eloquence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris means _eloquence._

 

Airi squinted through her small binoculars, trying to focus on the gates that were a good few hundred metres away. The tiled pattern on the gates made it a bit easier to focus on, but the way they were repeated on the walls meant she wasn’t quite sure if she was looking at the gates or just a beautified bit of fence.

Ichimaru was napping beside her, a ball of fluff that moved softly with each breath. Airi didn’t blame her. She’d been sitting in this same spot for almost four hours, and her legs were killing her. When she sat cross legged, she got pins and needles, and when she knelt, her knees took it for a while before they started hurting as well.

She was only here for another hour or so, and then it was time to head off to the Academy, where she’d have to sit and do nothing but try to stay awake and read Iruka-sensei’s writing on the board. Ugh.

The four ninja in training had managed to track Iruka-sensei back to this big farm place a few times, but only Shikaru had seen Kakashi-sensei go in, and only once. They’d found their den, but now Airi wasn’t too sure about what the next part of their mission was supposed to be. They’d found the white ninja. They’d tracked him to his lair. Now what?

And graduation was tomorrow. Maybe that meant that they should cut off their surveillance, at least for now. Airi was certain that when they were all put on their teams, they wouldn’t have enough time or energy to keep this schedule up.

Airi peered into the binoculars again. She really couldn’t see anything. And maybe getting a little bit closer was okay?

She poked Ichimaru awake and together they crept forward, slinking through the long grass and using Airi’s green and black shaggy coat to blend in. Airi tried to focus on everything her mum had been teaching her about stealth – move with the wind, be as small as possible, always be under cover.

Finally she reached a tree that was about half the distance forward from where she’d been hiding on top of a roof, and she managed to scramble up into the lower branched, Ichimaru holding onto her hood tightly. The tree branch she was sitting on was more comfy, as well. Nice.

The sun freed itself of the horizon and started climbing into the sky. Airi peered through her binoculars again. Now that she was closer, she could tell which tiled pattern was the gates, and she focused on that.

The gate creaked, and then opened slightly. Airi tensed. It was probably Iruka-sensei, but he had always had an uncanny way of sensing when students were doing something that they shouldn’t be. She hoped that she was far enough away that he wouldn’t notice her.

Iruka-sensei, a bit blurry from the binoculars, stepped out onto the path. A second person stepped out behind him and then turned to do something with the gate. Airi squinted, and made out a shock of white hair. It must be Kakashi-sensei.

Inwardly cheered that she had also spotted Kakashi-sensei (she couldn’t wait to rub this in Akane’s face), Airi grinned to herself and kept watching them. Maybe if something happened, she could report back to the others and they’d have a reason to call this a mission success. Airi would like her first mission (even if it wasn’t really official) to be a success. That would be a good omen for the rest of her career.

“What do you think?” She murmured to Ichimaru. “Wanna take a bet on what’s gonna happen?” Ichimaru rolled her eyes. “Okay, well I bet they’re gonna walk down this path.” Ichimaru nipped her reproachfully and Airi resisted the urge to smile.

Kakashi-sensei turned back to Iruka-sensei and then leant down to kiss him. Airi blinked. Well, that was confirmed, then. The four ninja in training hadn’t really been sure if Kakashi and Iruka were together, but Airi thought that they probably were.

“Well, that’s something to take back to the others,” Airi whispered to Ichimaru. “Do you think they’ll take that as a mission success?”

Ichimaru huffed her agreement softly. Airi grinned.

_Mission complete!_

 

* * *

 

Kakashi turned the page of _Icha Icha Violence_. He was walking Iruka to the Academy while also keeping watching for his kouhai; they usually met outside the last place where they had eaten together, and that happened to be Ichiraku. They’d passed the ramen stand a minute ago, and it was just past eight, so Kakashi was expecting Tenzou to show up any second now.

Sure enough, he spotted a shadow on the rooftop nearest them and watched as Iruka twitched his head in that direction. He was probably feeling on edge in regards to any ANBU member after what had happened. Kakashi didn’t really blame him.

Tenzou popped out of an alleyway twenty metres ahead of them, and Kakashi raised a hand so that Iruka would know that he had a reason for joining them.

“Kakashi-senpai, Iruka-sensei,” Tenzou greeted them cheerfully. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Kakashi replied. “Iruka, I don’t think you’ve met Tenzou officially. We used to be on the same team.”

“It’s good to put a face to the name,” Iruka said, bowing. “Kakashi speaks of you highly.”

Kakashi watched in amusement as Tenzou blushed ever so slightly. “Maa, Iruka. You can’t say things like that; he’ll get a high opinion of himself, and where would that leave me?”

A flicker on the rooftop above them was the only thing that gave Kurenai away. All they needed now was for Sakura to show up.

“Iruka, this is where I leave you. I suppose you can manage the rest of the way to the Academy by yourself?”

Iruka lifted an eyebrow at him disdainfully and Kakashi shrugged a little bit, twisting his fingers to say s _tay safe,_ in the code they’d come up with.

“Yeah.” Iruka smiled lopsidedly. “I’ll see you later, then.”

Kakashi watched with one eye as his lover melted off into the early morning crowd. Kurenai touched down between them, landing without a hair out of place.

“I’m here,” Kurenai said. “Who’s the last team member?”

“She’s coming,” Tenzou nodded, looking over Kakashi’s shoulder. Kakashi looked to see Sakura coming through the crowd, smiling and greeting civilians and ninja alike along the way. As Tsunade’s apprentice, she was well known and well liked, especially since she took urgent petitions to Tsunade that otherwise would have taken weeks to get past the paperwork needed. The pink haired woman stepped into the group that they made, and Kakashi nonchalantly made the hand signs for _follow_ and _split up_ , trusting that Sakura would know them. While it probably wasn’t necessary in the middle of the village, he and Tenzou had been in the same ANBU team, and it was habit more than anything had him forming the familiar seals.  

Tenzou fell into step with him as Sakura and Kurenai stepped away. “You’re cute when you’re with him,” he commented, keeping his voice low. Kakashi could see a sparkle of mischief in his eyes and felt a sudden twinge of misgiving.

Kakashi looked at him out of the corner of my eye. “Hmm. Maybe it’s time _you_ found someone, so I can tease you about them,” he replied, raising an eyebrow. “I feel like this is becoming too one sided.”

“Ahh, come on Kakashi-senpai. I don’t think all the teasing in the world will make up for what happened in Kumo.”

“With the banana tree and the old lady?” Kakashi chuckled just thinking about the incident. “Well. Genma and I did go on about that for a while, didn’t we?”

“Four years,” Tenzou muttered under his breath. “It only stopped when you left. I don’t think Genma was game enough to tease me when I was promoted.”

Kakashi turned from the main road, towards the training grounds. Now that there were less people about, he could feel Kurenai and Sakura’s presence easily.

“Where are we going?” Tenzou asked.

“Just to one of the training grounds. I want you three to brush up on your teamwork and figure out how to work together.”

“And what about you?”

Kakashi grimaced. “There’s a reason we’re going on a political mission instead of the ones that we’re usually assigned. My damn legs are still healing, so I can’t put any extra stress on them. Doctor’s orders.”

Tenzou frowned at him, looking worried. “Then you don’t expect any action?”

Kakashi shrugged one shoulder. “On the surface, no. But Tsunade thinks that there’s more to it than what’s on the mission scroll, and I agree. If I need to fight, I can fight. I’m just thinking it’s better to try to avoid it at the moment.”

They arrived outside training ground three a few minutes later. Sakura and Kurenai dropped down from the trees, and Kakashi leaned up against one of the posts while his would-be team gathered. He tucked _Icha Icha_ back into a pocket and took stock of them.

It was odd having Sakura there as an equal, not an apprentice, but it was something that he could work around. But first, he had to go through the mission.

“Alright,” Kakashi drawled. “Yamato, you got the form filed?” While Tenzou was still an ANBU, following the rules meant that he had to take on a code name for all other duties. It was annoying, but Kakashi could deal with it. Kurenai and Sakura, who didn’t know him as anything else, wouldn’t have the trouble of remembering a new name.

Tenzou nodded. “Yes. Although Boar was unhappy to see me taken off duty.”

Kakashi pursed his lips and nodded. He would have to find out who Boar was. “Okay.” He pulled the mission scroll out of his pocket, unsealed it with a small flash of chakra, and tossed it to Tenzou. “Kurenai, Sakura, have you seen it already?”

Kurenai nodded, but Sakura shook her head. Tenzou had opened the scroll and started reading what was inside with a small frown marring his face.

“A Rank mission to Grass,” Kakashi began, looking up at the wispy and thin clouds overhead. “Five pay units. No combat expected.”

“Then why’s it five pay units?” Sakura questioned. “That’s a lot for an A Rank without combat.”

“Our treaty with Grass depends on the outcome of this mission,” Kurenai said, picking at the hem of her wrap. “It’s a delicate situation, and it needs a delicate hand.” Kurenai raised an eyebrow at Kakashi, amusement in her eyes.

Gah. No wonder Tsunade had seemed so eager to give this to him. It would just be more proof to present to the Council that he would be capable of taking over her spot. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t already thought of, but it still jarred him a little to think that he was moving from assassination and infiltration to making nice with daimyos over dinner.

“Are you trying to say something about Kakashi-senpai’s abilities, Kurenai-san?” Tenzou asked, looking up from the scroll. The words themselves could be taken as confrontational, but Tenzou’s tone was light and teasing, and he looked amused when he glanced at Kakashi. Sakura was looking between them all curiously, but had a neutral expression. She wasn’t sure how to interact with them now that she was a chuunin. That was fine – Kakashi knew that it took time to adjust to rank changes, and she’d only been promoted within the last year.  

“Maa, I can do delicate,” Kakashi said. (The delicacy that the raikiri needed was immense; one move wrong and the jutsu fizzled out. But how many times had he done it, under pressure, to put hole after hole in people’s chests?) “I’m worried more about your table manners, Yamato.”

Tenzou spluttered and Kureani smiled. Something in Kakashi’s chest twitched. Pack.

“But Kurenai is right,” Kakashi said, and his team quieted. “This situation is going to be delicate. The scroll says that there’s no combat likely to happen, but Tsunade and I think otherwise.”

“What’s going on?” Sakura asked, shifting her weight.

“It just happens to be time for us to renegotiate our treaty with Grass,” Kakashi started. “But, they’re currently involved in a heated dispute with Takigakure from the Land of Waterfalls.”

“If you can call the massacre of Shirigakure a ‘heated dispute,’” Kurenai cut in. “Grass and Waterfall are arguing violently, and they’re going to be at our meeting since they’re also trying to negotiate their own peace. The entire population of Waterfall is starving because Grass destroyed their trading ports and that’s the only way they can get food in, but Waterfall is too proud for their own good and they won’t accept any terms that Grass is offering, since they’d basically be annexed if they agree. The Land of Fire has increased trade with them, but we can’t risk alienating Grass; our treaty with them is too important, and with the expiration date on it approaching, Grass could let it fade out of existence. At the very worst, they would ally with Iwa, which would mean that Iwagakure could have border access to the Land of Fire. That’s our concern right now – our mission is to renegotiate the treaty with Grass and get out of there. We’ll be taking along two diplomats who are versed in the current treaty, and Grass will have their own, so while we have the authority, they’ll be the ones writing the fine print.”

“Sounds like we’ll be having fun,” Sakura commented wryly.  

Kakashi grimaced and continued on from where Kurenai had left off. “We need to keep our treaty with Grass as it stops Iwa from making any overt attempts to invade. The situation isn’t helped by the complex set of ceremonies that must be followed perfectly in Grass. The whole situation is completely fucked, and we’re getting thrown straight into it – skipping the frying pan, straight to the fire.”

“Aren’t I glad that you pulled me from rotation for this,” Tenzou muttered, still scanning the scroll.

“As both countries border the Land of Fire, Konoha has a vested interest in the meetings that are happening,” Kurenai said. “We need to be vigilant, and we can’t afford to give offense – to anyone. The daimyo has asked us to try and keep trade as open as it can be with Waterfall, but it’s likely that Grass will try to constrict our trade with them as part of our new treaty.”

Tenzou finished reading and passed the scroll to Sakura. “Okay. What’s the catch?”

Kakashi grimaced. “What happens if one of us, or one of our diplomats, is assassinated? It’d create a sticky situation, and depending on who the blame fell on, Konoha would probably support the other if it came to war. Not to mention that Iwa and Waterfall probably don’t want us to renew the treaty with Grass, as it will strengthen us. The possibility of us being ambushed is high, so we’re going to have to be on guard at all times. Understand?”

There were nods around the circle that they formed. “Good. Now, to get this clear; I am the squad leader, but Kurenai is the specialist here. If she tells you to do something, I’d expect you to do it. I have faith in your ability to make judgement calls on the fly – it’s why I picked you.”

“What’s your connection to Grass?” Tenzou asked Kurenai. “It only said in the scroll that they would take you seriously.”

Kurenai shrugged. “Fifty years ago when Grass was founded, Konoha supported them against Iwa and Ame’s opposition to its creation. In return for the good terms of the treaty Konoha gave, they asked that Konoha take two couples who were all strong ninja as thanks. I’m descended from one couple, so I’ve got some political clout there.”

“We’re also hoping that Kurenai’s presence will deter any Grass assailants,” Kakashi added, thinking back to his conversation with Tsunade. “The complicated traditions they have in Grass means that killing her will be a serious offense to them. Hopefully it’ll mean that we won’t have any Grass ninja after us.”

“After her, maybe,” Sakura said. “There’s nothing stopping them from picking us off when she’s not around.”

Kakashi nodded. “That brings me to my next point. From when we leave tomorrow, the buddy system is in place – you don’t go anywhere without another one of the team accompanying you. Kurenai and Sakura, if we need to split up, you two should go together. With your hair, you could probably pass as cousins; if they don’t suspect your abilities Sakura, that might give us an edge in a fight. Yamato and I know how to work together easily, so there’s no problem there.” Kakashi rolled his head to stretch his neck. “Any issues?”

“Nope.”

“No.”

“None, Kakashi-senpai.”

“Well then,” Kakashi said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s all you need to know, briefing wise. Standard information gathering mission protocol should apply, but the main goal is to get the treaty done and get out alive. Any questions?”

He waited a second for anyone to say anything. “None? Good. Now for the practical part of today’s gathering…”

Soon enough, all three of them had bounded off into the woods. Kakashi sighed and brought his hands up to whistle loudly.

A second passed, then two, and then he was looking at seven of his eight ninken.

“You guys are getting slow,” Kakashi drawled, looking them all over. “Mission tomorrow. Be prepared for any combat, but it’s political, so no biting or barking unless the situation calls for it, understand?”

“Ahh, that’s boring, Boss,” Guruko whined.

“Yeah, Boss, we want to see some action!”

“I better not be dragged out for small children to pet again,” Pakkun grouched from where he was sitting.

Kakashi huffed. “Tenzou, Kurenai and Sakura are in the woods. I want you guys to go and set up traps and harass them so that they get the feel of working as a team. Got it?”

“Got it!” Seven voices chirruped back at him. His ninken disappeared into the brush, and Kakashi looked after them, wondering where Uuhei had gotten herself off to.

 

* * *

 

“Chouko-chan! That is _not_ appropriate behaviour for the classroom! Let Uuhei go right this instant!”

Iruka stared down the Akimichi until she reluctantly released the ninken that had been in her grasp.

“But Iruka-sensei,” Chouko whined, drawing out the _sensei_. “She stole my sandwich!”

Iruka resisted the urge to beat his head against the nearest solid surface. “Just because Uuhei is misbehaving doesn’t mean that you _sit_ on her, understood? It is not becoming of a future ninja, _or_ a ninken,” Iruka said, turning his glare on the wolfhound. He knew she must have let herself be caught – both stealing the sandwich and the chase that must have occurred after it, because he had seen Kakashi’s dogs being sneaky before. He was fairly certain that if he couldn’t sense the bright spark of chakra in them, he wouldn’t have believed how fast they moved or how invisible they were when they wanted to be.

Uuhei turned her tail down and whined softly.

“That doesn’t get you out of anything,” Iruka told her. “I’m telling Kakashi tonight what you’ve been up to, and after that, maybe you’ll stop letting my students catch you.”

“Kakashi whistled for us all a few hours ago,” Uuhei admitted in her quiet voice. “I probably should have gone then, but I was having too much fun here. Boss makes us do _so_ much work!”

Iruka stared at the unrepentant ninken before sighing. “Whatever. Just don’t get in the way of my class, and you can hide here until Kakashi comes to find you.”

Uuhei looked like she wasn’t sure this was any better than work, but settled down in the corner of the classroom anyway. Iruka returned to the front of the class and stared yelling to attempt to calm the maelstrom that had broken out.

Honestly, he didn’t blame them all for being rowdy; after all, their final graduation exam was tomorrow. He still remembered his own graduating exam, and the chaos that preceded it. He was sure that they’d all be in high spirits for the rest of the afternoon, no matter what he did.

Luckily, the class was only his responsibility for the next twelve minutes. He thought that he could wait that long before snapping in frustration at how they weren’t paying attention.

“Everyone, I want your work turned in to me in the next five minutes!” Iruka yelled. He might as well have yelled it into an abyss for all the good it did. Iruka sighed to himself as he watched paper airplanes fly across the room, impromptu fights break out, and no work get done.

He sat down at his desk to watch them all instead of fruitlessly trying to keep yelling. He had a feeling that most, if not all, of them would be graduating tomorrow. They would leave him here to teach the next batch of seven year olds, and he would see them at the mission desk and around Konoha. If he was lucky, they’d keep in touch, visiting every now and again so that he could check in on them and see how they were doing. If he wasn’t lucky, he’d see their names on the Memorial Stone when he went to visit the ghosts that lived there.

Hanabi and Akane were fighting over something inane; Shikaru was dozing on her desk. Chouko was laughing as Ichimaru and Airi wrestled on the ground next to her desk; Iruka could only see her shock of grey hair. Kenji was talking excitedly about a new move he’d been shown by his sister yesterday. Yuuki was directing some of his bugs to crawl up Inori’s back, Ryuu hiding his grin behind his hand as he watched.

His class.

He’d watched this one from when they were all seven; sure, other teachers had taken some years, but he’d looked after them for the first and the last two. He knew them all well, and he’d been thinking about team formations for them for years now. They should all pass, and their teams should all be balanced, but things could go wrong on the test day. Some dropped out, or nervousness caused silly mistakes that they wouldn’t have made otherwise.

He found himself smiling softly as he watched them all. He was proud of how far they’d come, and he was sure that they would make him proud in the field; protecting their village and their loved ones. Like it should be.

The bell rang and Iruka watched his rambunctious class sprint for the door. The only ones remaining after a twenty second flurry of activity were Chouko and Shikaru. Chouko was obviously eager to be gone, but Shikaru was packing up her things slower than she would have liked.

Iruka waved goodbye to both of them and started cleaning up the classroom. After a swift tidying of chairs and tables, he opened the door, Uuhei slipping past out into the open, and locked it after him.

Iruka walked out of the Academy building and let his body fall into autopilot as he concentrated on the chakra network of the village. Kakashi’s bright silver chakra was still in one of the training grounds, like it had been all day, Iruka noted as he threaded his way towards the Hatake Compound. He’d decided to stay there until he found a new apartment (and there were about fifty notices that he had to look at when he got in). Kakashi had said that Iruka could get in on his own if one of the ninken were with him when he unlocked the door so the wards didn’t fry him. That hadn’t been a problem so far, the ninken finding him long before he thought to try to locate them.

The imposing Hatake gates soon came into view, their only identifying feature being the nine tilted squares of the Hatake Clan symbol. Iruka touched Uuhei and tentatively pushed the gate open, still mildly surprised when his hand passed easily through the thick ward protecting the estate. The chakra barrier here was so thick he was sure that even civilians could tell that there was something powerful about the place.

He set to making dinner, knowing that this would be the last that he and Kakashi would share until his mission was over. He had just covered the pot on the stove when he felt Kakashi’s chakra came through the barrier that surrounded the estate.

Iruka left the kitchen to open the door, only to find Kakashi, dripping wet and covered in mud, standing on his doorstep.

Iruka took a deep breath in and sighed it out slowly. Kakashi looked bedraggled, standing out in the rain, his normally wild hair plastered to his skull.

“Do I even want to know?” Iruka asked after a few seconds had passed. Uuhei poked her head around the door frame, and grinned when she saw what Kakashi looked like.

“Good one, Boss,” she said, disappearing again.

“So that’s where she was,” Kakashi muttered under his breath. “All the other ninken are as bad as I am.”

Iruka shook his head and opened the door wider so that Kakashi could walk in. He tracked mud after him, and Iruka closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see the mess.

“I’ll clean it up later,” Kakashi said over his shoulder, heading for the bathroom. “Don’t worry about it. This place has seen worse.”

Iruka really didn’t want to know what that worse was.

The food was done by the time Kakashi came out of the bathroom, dressed in a just a cowled shirt and standard issue pants.

“Did you get everything sorted today?” Iruka asked. He’d felt Kakashi with some others in one of the training fields all day today, probably getting to know each other’s fighting styles again.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Kakashi drawled. His feet made no sound as he moved across the room behind Iruka. It would have made Iruka uncomfortable if he couldn’t feel Kakashi’s chakra fizzing quietly as he moved. Kakashi never made any noise; if Iruka thought about it for more than a few seconds, it made him sad. Kakashi had never had a life outside of being a ninja, and although Kakashi would claim that he didn’t want it any other way, Iruka saw his smiling kids every day and thought that he might be lying to himself a little.

“So you’re ready to go?”

“Maa, as much as we’ll ever be. I hate political missions – you know, I’ve already had three people come up to me, all of whom were civilians, and ask if I can do something about their trade contacts in Grass? It’s ridiculous. I’ve decided that I never want to take a public mission ever again.”

Iruka hid his smile by stirring their dinner and then grabbing two plates. Outside, a small group of probably intoxicated jounin wondered past on the street. Iruka kept tabs on them until they faded out of his primary range.

“At least you shouldn’t be moving all that much. Do you want me to come and see you off tomorrow when you leave on your horses?” Iruka couldn’t keep the teasing tone out of his voice, looking over his shoulder to see Kakashi groan and bury his head in his hands.

“I don’t want to think about it,” Kakashi mumbled. “They’re going to want me to _talk_ to them. Why did I tell Tsunade that this would be a good idea?”

“Well, at least your legs should be fine by the end of it.”

“There’s that at least,” Kakashi murmured, too long after Iruka had finished talking. It jarred the conversation somewhat as Iruka put down the plate in front of where Kakashi’s head lay on the table.

“Do you know how long negotiations will go on for?” Iruka asked instead, trying to distract him from his thoughts. It was obviously upsetting him, if he was that out of touch with the conversation.

Kakashi shrugged one shoulder as he sat up. “Could be done in a week. Could be done in five months. Who knows? Just my luck, it’ll drag on.” There was a pause before he pouted. “I can’t even read _Icha Icha_. Tsunade said that it might offend someone.”

Iruka couldn’t help but smile at that. “It’ll be good for you to broaden your literary horizons.”

Kakashi huffed. “Maybe.”

Iruka started his food, and had hardly eaten any of it by the time Kakashi was finished, like normal. It was another one of those things that set him apart.

“If you’re leaving tomorrow, is there something you can get for me?” Iruka asked hesitantly, toying with his food.

“Hmm?” Kakashi asked, looking up at him.

“The texts that you were looking at, about chakra bonding. Can you get them for me or do I have to go to them?”

Kakashi was still for a long second. “They’re meant to be kept in the secure archives, but if I brought them here, no one who isn’t you or Tenzou can get into the Compound without the wards frying them. So it would be fine, although Tsunade might be annoyed.”

Iruka shrugged, trying to keep his shoulders loose so that he wouldn’t look as tense as he felt. “I’ve done nothing but be pleasant and helpful in the time that she’s been here,” he said. “I’m sure that she won’t mind me being annoying one time.”

Kakashi crooked a smile at him, and Iruka felt better for asking. It was one of the first real smiles that he’d gotten out of him for the last few weeks. Iruka had thought that it might have had something to do with not being able to go out on missions, but it might have had more to do with this instead.

Uuhei was gone by the time Iruka took their plates into the kitchen. Kakashi insisted on being the one to clean up, so Iruka went back into the lounge room. Shiba and Guruko were between the lounge and the coffee table, Bull was curled up on one of the couch cushions and Biscuit was sitting in the corner of the room. This was the only room where Iruka had convinced Kakashi to remove all of the dust coverings, and he had done it with more complaining than actual work. The ninken had done nearly as much of it as Kakashi had, and that was only after Kakashi had provoked Iruka into yelling at him so that the dogs could hear them from the other side of the Compound. The lounge room was spacious and airy when Iruka opened up the windows, letting the cool breeze of the fast oncoming winter sweep through the house and air out the disused residence. The kitchen hadn’t been much easier, but Kakashi had already kept that more or less clean; all Iruka had to do was stock it with some more food.

“I’m going to turn in early,” Kakashi drawled quietly when he came back in, looking at how his ninken were sprawled in various places around the room. Urushi and Pakkun had ambled in fifteen minutes ago, and Pakkun had made himself at home on Iruka’s lap. “Want to be in top form for tomorrow. I don’t know what’s going to happen, or when I’ll get a good night’s sleep again.”

“Okay,” Iruka replied. “I will as well, then. No point in me staying up.”

Kakashi nodded once, and Iruka made sure all the ninken had anything they needed before he followed. Normally three or four of Kakashi’s dogs would vie for a place in or at the foot of their bed, but on some occasions they didn’t even try to stick their noses into the bedroom.

Kakashi hadn’t bothered turning the lights on, so Iruka shrugged his gear off in the dark. He put his uniform next to Kakashi’s, and carefully folded his hitai-ate so that the leaf insignia was clearly visible. Next to Kakashi’s, his looked very new; he’d gotten a new one after he’d given his to Naruto, so it was only three or so years old. And it wasn’t like Iruka did many missions where he was regularly getting it dirty. The last action it had seen was probably when Iruka had ducked his head to deflect a stray shiruken last month from a target practice lesson gone wrong.

Kakashi’s, in comparison, looked like it was on the verge of fraying apart. The headband was covered with tiny indents where Kakashi’s lightning chakra had eaten away at the metal. The material of the headband was soft and worn, and Iruka could see the edge of the chakra suppressing seal that he himself had sewn onto the left side of it, just poking out from where Kakashi had put it down. It was probably younger than Iruka’s headband, seeing how fast Kakashi went through them – the combination of his deadly lightning and the terrible conditions that made up the majority of Kakashi’s missions meant that they were put through their paces before he retired them.

Iruka left himself in just his boxers and slipped into the double bed. Kakashi’s chakra was smoother than normal, the jagged edges frayed and soft around the edges – he was tired. This morning he’d told Iruka that he was going to round up his specially picked team for his next mission into Grass for a briefing and some team exercises. They must have been pretty intense for Kakashi’s chakra to feel as tired as it did.

“Have fun today?” Iruka asked lowly.

“Yeah,” Kakashi said after a moment’s consideration. “I haven’t worked with Tenzou or Kurenai in a while, especially since Kurenai picked up her first genin team. It was good to spar with them both.”

“Feeling ready?”

“As much as we can be,” Kakashi said. “I’m not sure we have all the intel needed, but it’s not the first time I’ve gone into a situation like this without knowing everything.”

“You’ll look after yourself, won’t you?”

“Of course,” Kakashi murmured, voice uncharacteristically serious. It was a side that Iruka saw rarely, and only when they were alone together. It made him feel privileged to know that Kakashi trusted him enough to show that to him.

“Okay,” Iruka said. If Kakashi said that he had things under control, then Iruka trusted him to be prepared enough to deal with whatever he faced.

 

* * *

 

Kakashi opened his eye when Urushi moved a touch at the foot of the bed; he’d felt his dogs come in during the night. They were still getting used to sharing with Iruka, but he was sure that before long they’d all be piled as close as they could get away with.

“Sorry Boss,” Urushi muttered. Kakashi tilted his head and saw that Bull’s eyes were open as well. Uuhei and Pakkun had come in after their shift around the Compound and were both still sleeping, Uuhei on the floor and Pakkun on Kakashi’s pillow.

“It’s fine,” Kakashi replied quietly. He didn’t want to wake Iruka just yet. There was just the touch of sunlight in the sky that Kakashi could see through the blinds, so he decided that it wasn’t too early to get up.

His dogs moved as he slipped out of bed, and four of them followed him to the kitchen as he made his way through the house. He chucked a few ration bars at them, which they devoured hungrily. Shiba grabbed hers out of the air as Kakashi tucked a few into his pocket.

Pakkun, Uuhei and Shiba followed at his heels when he ventured out of the Compound. The dogs growled and darted at each other playfully, keeping close to Kakashi as he moved through early morning Konoha. The only movements were other ninja like him, up early to get ready for whatever mission they were moving out on that day, or civilians that needed to be up this early. Kakashi was able to buy a fresh roll off one of the bakers, and picked at it as he moved towards his goal.

The secure archives fell under ANBU jurisdiction, but as a former Captain he still had some privileges. More often than not, he cashed in his favours to get where he needed, and his former colleagues pretended not to see him as he looked for whatever information he wanted.

This time, however, would be different. He had a note from Tsunade tucked into his pocket that authorised the removal of scrolls 992a, 992b, 543b and 791d. They were the four that Kakashi had found the most useful, and contained almost all of the information that he’d managed to dig up. He’d asked for 88a-c as well, but Tsunade had told him that the scrolls literally couldn’t be removed from the building, or they’d burst into flames. It was a unique way of storing information, and Kakashi wanted to go and look at the seals on them so he could see how they worked. A version of it for his own files would likely come in handy.

As always, Finch was in front of the archives. She had been guarding the building for as long as Kakashi could remember. She didn’t take missions other than this, and seemed content with caring for some of Konoha’s most precious secrets.

“Hatake-san,” Finch said, inclining her head. “You’ve been here quite frequently in the last few months.”

“Hmm,” Kakashi replied, handing her the note from Tsunade. He’d gotten Pakkun to go and explain the situation last night after Iruka had asked, and had received this when Pakkun had come back.

Finch unfolded the note and spent a few seconds going over it. When she touched, the note flared green and Tsunade’s crest appeared in the background; it was genuine.

“Very well,” Finch said. “I will guide you to the archives.”

Kakashi knew where they all were, but he didn’t argue, letting Finch lead the way as they descended the steps that led into the underground storage. After going through several heavily warded doors and around a few corners in a maze that would certainly confuse an intruder, the cramped corridor opened out into a large space with hundreds of shelves containing scrolls, tomes, and artefacts.

Each was assigned a number, and Finch led him to the scrolls he’d requested. She passed them to him reverently, keeping her touch gentle. Kakashi carefully stored each one into a storage scroll, which he then tucked back into his vest pocket.

Finch looked him over carefully before she started back for the entrance. “Be careful with those scrolls, Hatake-san. What is within them could destroy the majority of our shinobi population within a year.”

Kakashi shivered. “I know. I promise, none but my intended will see them. I’ll keep them inside the Hatake safe; no one else will see them.”

Finch nodded. “This is as it should be.” She opened the door and led them back out to the desk. From where he was, Kakashi could see the gleam of weapons that would be hidden from the front of the room. There were two masked ANBU waiting, and Kakashi felt their gazes as he inclined his head to Finch and moved towards the door.

The delegation wasn’t supposed to arrive until around noon, so he had at least four hours before he had to appear willing to listen to whatever rubbish the ambassador would spout at him.

Kami, he would have to ride on a _horse_. He hadn’t done that since his first days at ANBU, doing visible protective duties. He was sure he remembered how, but he might be stiff in the beginning. Not that he would let it show. He’d never really learned how in the traditional sense – he’d copied some forms off an experienced rider with the Sharingan, and had used them as a short cut. The main difficulty he’d encountered had been getting used to being on top of something so big and the feeling of a horse’s gait, but he’d done that years ago, so he wasn’t too worried. If worst came to worst, he’d just cheat a little with the Sharingan. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before.

He still had a few things to do before the convoy arrived, so he dropped the scroll back at the Compound and checked on Iruka. He was still sleeping, three ninken around him, snoring away together. Kakashi couldn’t stop a small smile from forming as he headed to the armoury he kept under the house.

He hadn’t told Iruka that this was here yet. There was a large collection of short swords on one wall that had belonged to his father, kept clean by Kakashi even though he rarely used them anymore. Other than them, everything in the basement belonged to him.

He carefully emptied his pockets, including the hidden ones. When everything was laid out in front of him, he started cleaning all of it.

The floorboards above him creaked and crackled, and Kakashi paused to look upwards. He’d put a touch of glass in the floorboards in some areas of the house so no matter where he was in the house, he would hear them clearly. Iruka had learnt his way around most of them, but he sometimes didn’t avoid the one right outside the bedroom first thing in the morning.

Kakashi had just finished polishing all his gear when the door to the basement creaked. He didn’t turn around as Iruka slowly took a few steps into the basement, taking in all of the weapons that Kakashi had down here.

“How long have you been up?” Iruka asked.

“A few hours,” Kakashi replied, going to put away all of the tools of his trade. He liked to do this at the start of every long mission; clean everything, put it all away, and start anew. He closed his eye and cleared his mind, then opened it again to look at the drawers and stacks of weapons to decide on what he would need.

“I didn’t know this was here,” Iruka said, as he watched Kakashi start pulling out different blades.

“I keep it sealed, most of the time,” Kakashi told him, deciding on how many shuriken he would take. Iruka hummed behind him; Kakashi doubted he would have missed the seal, but there were more sealed than unsealed doors in the Compound, so it was hardly anything out of the ordinary.

“The seals to unlock it are Ox, Horse, Monkey, Hare, Ram. If you want to come in here and get anything,” Kakashi said offhandedly. He looked over his shoulder at Iruka, who was staring at the numerous short swords on the wall. “Iruka.”

Iruka turned his head to look at him, a small furrow between his eyebrows. Kakashi nodded at the container scroll that was on the bench. Iruka took a few steps forward to look at the scroll quietly as Kakashi sorted his kunai and senbon into their prospective places. He took out the three pronged kunai that he usually kept in his weapons pouch and put it in its own drawer. He didn’t want anyone getting their hands on it on an extended mission.

Iruka was looking at the storage scroll pensively. “It’s just a normal storage scroll,” Kakashi told him, grabbing a few more scrolls for the larger items that he wanted to bring. “You can unseal it in the standard way. Just leave it down here when you’re going to read them; they shouldn’t be outside the archives, strictly.”

Iruka nodded and put the scroll back on the bench. “I won’t take them out.”

Kakashi nodded as he snapped his weapons pouch closed. That was all that he would keep on hand… He looked at the storage and summoning scrolls that he had laid out neatly next to each other. He’d have to choose which ones of those he’d take with him. Maybe a storage scroll to store other scrolls…

“Have you packed everything you need?” Iruka asked, watching as he worked.

“I’ve got most of it,” Kakashi said. “A few things I keep on hand and ready, but they’re upstairs. I’ll grab them when I leave.”

Kakashi followed Iruka out and felt the seal take again as he closed the door and pushed a little chakra into it to agitate the seal.

“Ox, Horse, Monkey, Ram, Hare, right?”

“Hare before Ram,” Kakashi corrected absently, pulling out a scroll and sealing a few boxes of ration bars into it. You never knew when you would need them, and he always felt that it was better to be prepared than not. Iruka followed him outside, and he paused before the gate. Kakashi slipped his scroll into his vest and then tugged his mask down so he could let out a long, fiercely loud whistle.

Within half a second, all eight of his ninken were standing in a circle around them.

“Alright; I want two to stay with Iruka,” Kakashi drawled, ignoring Iruka’s splutter next to him. “Who wants to be it?”

There was an instant clamour as his dogs begged to be the one picked. Kakashi rolled his eyes at their antics before huffing and quieting them all.

“Uuhei and Urushi, one of you stay at the Compound, one with Iruka. The rest of you, disperse and get ready to be summoned again; I don’t know what we’re going to be going up against in this mission.”

“Yes Boss!”

All but two of the ninken puffed out of existence.

“Kakashi, they don’t have to stay here,” Iruka said, frowning at his dogs. “I want you to have as much support as you can. And I don’t need them to look after me.”

Kakashi shrugged one shoulder. “You’ll need them to open the gate for you if you’re going to stay here, and I don’t really intend to kick you out.”

“Alright,” Iruka said after a moment.

Kakashi nodded at his two ninken, and Uuhei disappeared out the door to patrol the grounds. Urushi sat down by Iruka’s feet and blinked at Kakashi subtly. Even if the reason that he’d given Iruka was legitimate, Urushi and Uuhei would keep an eye on Iruka while they were doing it.

“The convoy should be here around midday. I’m going to check up on all of my team members to make sure that they’re ready before then.” Kakashi headed towards the opening of the Compound, pulling out _Icha Icha_ as he did so. “And don’t you have to be at the Academy early today, for the graduation?”

Iruka jumped and swore, darting back into the house. Kakashi smiled, and let the gate to the Compound swing shut behind him.

He headed to Tenzou’s apartment first, knowing that he would already be awake. Tenzou opened the door before Kakashi could knock, and stepped aside so that he could step in.

“Kakashi-senpai,” Tenzou said. “I assume you have everything in order?”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in response. Tenzou had a few scrolls lying on his table, and Kakashi could see characters inked neatly in Tenzou’s careful script on them, such a contrast to his own messy scrawl.

“Just checking in,” Kakashi said. It was an old habit, one that Tenzou was accustomed to. When they were in ANBU, it was one of the few things that he could be teased about, and Tenzou never disappointed.

“Ah, Kakashi-senpai, don’t you trust me to pack correctly?” Tenzou said, putting a hand over his heart in mock despair. “Only fifteen years of this! And yet, still you must check on me.”

Kakashi watched Tenzou’s dramatics fondly. It eased something in him, when he saw his kouhai relaxed like this. Tenzou had led a troubled life, to say the least, and Kakashi probably hadn’t helped in that regard. But when he saw Tenzou like this, well. It made him think that it might not have _all_ been bad, after all.

Tenzou was watching him with a small quirk to his lips, and Kakashi realised that the silence between them had stretched for longer than it usually had when they talked.

“Maa, Tenzou. I worry, that’s all.” Kakashi flicked his book open to a random page, and traced his eyes over the words absently.

“Have you checked on the others yet?” Tenzou asked as he slipped his vest on.

“Not yet,” Kakashi said. “I thought I’d give them time to wake up first.”

Tenzou nodded as he started putting the scrolls into his pockets. Tenzou didn’t use any type of summons, either contracted ones like the ninken, or already written seals; the furthest he got was exploding tags. That meant he had a lot less scrolls than Kakashi carried, and more in the pouches that he carried around.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Tenzou asked as he belted on the last of his weapons pouches, ready to head out.

“Only if you don’t have anywhere else to be,” Kakashi said. Tenzou shrugged.

“I’m ready to go.”

Kakashi waited while Tenzou locked his door and made a few quick hand seals to activate the wards that protected the place.

Kakashi tucked one hand into his pocket and as they slouched down the main road, _Icha Icha_ in one hand. They were most of the way to Kurenai and Asuma’s apartment when Kakashi saw Sakura approaching through the early morning crowd. Kakashi greeted her with a nod, and they continued on towards where Kurenai and Asuma lived.

Kurenai opened the door before they can get within five metres of it. “I’m ready to go,” she said, smiling. “I’m leaving!” She yelled back into the house. Kakashi heard Asuma’s voice call back, and he appeared behind her in the doorway quickly.

“Alright,” he said, nodding. “Be careful, and watch out for those Grass nin. Don’t agree to anything that includes you going back there!”

Kurenai rolled her eyes and closed the door firmly in Asuma’s face. “Okay! Let’s get this show on the road. When is the delegation meant to get here?”

“Midday,” Kakashi told her, turning and taking the road towards the front gates. “So we only have to wait for what, three hours?”

Kurenai grimaced. “Well, at least we won’t be late.”

_At least we won’t be late_. Kakashi won’t be surprised if that’s the last bit of good news of the entire mission.

He sighed, ready to get to work.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what happened with the banana tree and the old lady:
> 
> Tenzou, Kakashi, and Genma were all in Kumo on an undercover mission, posing as merchants. In the village they were trying to find information in, basically an old lady took a shine to Tenzou (who wouldn’t, he’s a sweetie), and started bringing him bananas everyday as a type of courting gift. Tenzou was trying to politely refuse while keeping his cover (while everyone else sniggered in the background) until he eventually tried to stop it by finding every banana tree in the near vicinity and stripping them of every banana overnight and hiding them away so the lady couldn’t bring him a banana the next day. Of course, next day comes and the lady basically carts into the clearing where they’re staying with the hundred or so bananas that Tenzou had stolen from the trees overnight, claiming that she accepted his wedding gift. Turns out, Tenzou had dumped them in her backyard. The team had to leave the next day, but no one let Tenzou forget that he’s basically engaged to a nice old lady in Kumo. amazing


	5. Wisdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Purple Iris' meaning is often interpreted as wisdom.

Horses were just about as great as Kakashi remembered.

The one that he’d been given was a light brown, with splotchy bits of white on it here and there, like a painter had liberally applied a paint brush at random. She seemed spirited enough, but horses had acute senses, and few of them liked the lightning that always seemed to tingle around him.

Muscle memory had come slower than he wanted it to, but he settled into the saddle easily after about an hour of riding. Tenzou wasn’t doing as well; he was riding in the stiff legged way that Kakashi remembered. He had never been comfortable in the saddle, but at least his horse didn’t seem to hate him.

The white splotched bay seemed to hear the thought, bit down on her bridle, and attempted to run off the side of the path… for the fourth time that hour.

Kakashi wheeled her back in place, next to the delegate that had come to greet them and was trying (and failing) to make small talk with Kakashi, that was interrupted every now and again with Kakashi’s horse going crazy.

“My, Hatake-san, you truly are an excellent rider,” the man said (flattery – he wasn’t that good), fanning his face with the delicate looking red and orange fan he seemed to carry everywhere. “But normally Shirakai isn’t this disruptive.”

“I can handle a horse that doesn’t like me,” Kakashi muttered, sighing as she settled under him again. He doubted that that was the last time she would try to escape or buck him off.

They’d greeted the delegate this morning just outside the main gates. The man that Kakashi was tasked to interact with over the week it would take to ride back to Grass had been swathed in traditional Grass robes, and Kakashi had been surprised that he had been riding, not travelling in a palanquin. His eyes were dark, and Kakashi wondered how he managed to move under the weight of his clothes; he supposed that it must be skill that he had developed over his career of travelling and greeting people.

Yuhita Hiriko was poised and confident in himself, but there was something about him that whispered fragility to Kakashi. Perhaps that was just his normal response when interacting with a civilian, but there was something else about Yuhita that Kakashi had decided was easy to break.

The man had been making inane small talk for the last three hours, and Kakashi had replied politely, trying to resist the urge to pull out _Icha Icha_ from where he had stored it in his pocket. That was for later, when he could annoy Tenzou with it.

Kurenai had taken up his suggestion of presenting Sakura as her younger cousin, interested in politics. The two women were riding near the end of the convoy, talking together quietly. Kurenai was probably running over their cover story with Sakura.

Tenzou – or Yamato, as was his codename on this mission – was near the front of the convoy. He’d lost his ability to converse with the boys that ran around delivering messages as he aged, but he was still able to integrate himself into the community of the people who were in charge of the logistics of transporting this many people.

Kakashi thought that the number was completely ridiculous, but in order to keep up appearances, he supposed that it fit in. There were probably about sixty people that had come with the emissary from Grass, just to pick up Kakashi’s team. However, as many people as there were, Kakashi had seen few foreign shinobi – there were four that he had spotted so far, all of which were probably chuunin. There was one who might be higher in rank, but Kakashi had nothing to go on but the way that she rode her horse and how she seemed to be particularly attentive to her surroundings without appearing to be. Most of the people who were accompanying them were either merchants that hoped to gain some sort of advantage in their trade by being noticed by Yuhita or Kakashi, or a few lower ranked lords and notables from Grass. Kakashi hadn’t been introduced to most of them yet, but he was sure that he’d have the pleasure of that tonight when they stopped, which was something that he was _definitely_ looking forward to. The only people coming from Konoha were Kakashi and his team, and the two diplomats that were a little further back, riding with Kurenai and Sakura.

Kakashi sighed to himself silently. This was not his idea of a good time, but he’d do it, for Tsunade, and for his own contacts; one couldn’t know when they’d need to smuggle something through Grass, after all. There was one man that he’d used to use for some of the more obscure poisons that came out of Iwa, but he hadn’t heard anything from him in a few years, so he’d ask about him while he was there. He’d have the chance to be introduced with the people who held the power in the small country; of course he had as much, or maybe more, of a chance of pissing them off as he did courting them.

Tenzou made a discreet hand sign for _status_ , and Kakashi signalled _unchanged bored_ back at him while pretending to push his hair out of his eyes. He thought there might have been an amused tilt to Tenzou’s shoulders, but really, he couldn’t be sure from this far away.

“There is an excellent onsen at the next village we go through,” Yuhita was saying. Kakashi nodded along to try and show that he was listening. “It will be pushing it, but I believe that they truly are worth it. You do not mind travelling after dark, do you Hatake-san? Are you as fond of onsen as I am?”

“Travelling after dark is fine,” Kakashi told him, not answering the second part of his question. Especially with the cold season in swing, and the days getting ever shorter. He thought that he’d have to deal with stopping well before dark in the next few days, the infuriatingly slow passage of the train of people slowing them down.

“Good, good,” Yuhita chuckled, beckoning one of the boys that were always in his shadow. “Benka, let everyone know that we will be travelling onto Otuga Hen tonight.”

The boy nodded once and scurried away. Kakashi bit his lip as the woman he’d been watching for the last hour turned in her saddle to stare at them for a second. Definitely jounin level. He’d have to watch out for her, and for the younger boy that followed her. They looked similar, and were at least cousins, probably brother and sister. If they had a bloodline ability, which was unlikely but not impossible, and they knew how to work together, they’d be a threat.

Kakashi flicked his fingers at Tenzou and then at the Kusa nin. He got the hand sign for agreement before he had to turn back to Yuhita and ignore the burning gaze of the woman on him.

As the ambassador prattled on about something inane, Kakashi watched their surroundings. He wished that anyone else was close enough so that he could eavesdrop on their conversation and use it as the counterpoint to the utterly boring nonsense that Yuhita was going on about, but alas, he had ordered for them not to be disturbed. And now he was talking about which fabrics his daughter preferred and how hard they’d been to get when Mist had closed their borders. Kami help him.

The geography around them changed slowly. The thick forests that gave Konoha its name gradually dispersed as the hours went by, leaving them in semi-clear crop land. The path they followed had been cleared, but apart from that, Kakashi could only see farm buildings and rice fields stretching across the skyline.

The sun dipped lower and lower until it fell below the horizon. The glowing lights of the small town they were going to stop at could be seen for half an hour before they actually arrived. Kakashi knew the onsen where apparently Yuhita had booked out the entire place for all of his special guests. Those that were simply to take care of the horses would have to find other accommodation in the town. Tenzou looked like he’d managed to integrate himself with the stable hands well enough, so Kakashi signalled _go_ to him when they all started to leave while Yuhita talked with the owner of the onsen. He added the _report_ sign with an eye roll after Tenzou hesitated for a few seconds. The wood-user nodded and then called after the leaving craftsmen, laughing over some shared joke.

Kurenai had already drifted over to where he was standing, bringing Sakura with her. Kakashi turned to tell them that they would meet after most had gone to their rooms to discuss what they had learned that day, but was faced with Yuhita instead, a devious look on his face.

“Hatake-san, would you care to join me for a soak? I always find that a good way to relax after a day of riding. I’ve had one of the private rooms readied, where we could talk about your purpose in Grass.”

Kakashi didn’t need to look at Kurenai to feel how she tensed.

“Maa, Yuhita-san, onsen just aren’t my thing. However, if you’d like, I would be more than happy to join you for an evening’s repast when you are done.” He’d like nothing less, but if the man wanted to see his face, he’d let him think he had a chance at it while Kakashi was eating, instead of in the onsen, which would reveal a lot more than his face.

Yuhita looked put out for a moment, before his diplomatic training kicked in. At least that was good for something. “Of course, Hatake-san, I would be delighted. I will have one of my boys come and fetch you when I’m ready, ne?”

With that, he turned and strode into the building, people following after him quickly.

“Hatake-sama, if you would allow, I would guide you to your room,” a young girl squeaked, bowing.

Kakashi looked at her lowered head for a few seconds before replying. “Of course.” He looked at Kurenai, who nodded. She’d come as soon as she knew she wouldn’t be seen.

The young girl scurried along polished wooden floors until she stopped outside a beautifully carved door. Kakashi thanked her and then closed the door after him, stopping her in her tracks when she tried to follow.

He let out a breath and crossed to the window. There was a view of a large lake that bordered the grounds, and not much else. He settled against the wall of his room after checking for any listening devices and planting a few weapons in easy reach, and pulled out _Icha Icha_ to read.

Kurenai and Sakura didn’t keep him waiting for long. Half an hour after he’d closed the door, there was a slight tapping at his window. Kakashi undid the latch silently and stepped back so that Kurenai and Sakura would have room to slip through.

“Anything vital?” Kakashi asked.

Kurenai shook her head. “We didn’t hear anything that could affect the mission. I managed to gather a decent amount of information about our escorts though, both the ninja and the civilians.”

“Ninja?” Kakashi asked, wanting to hear about his most-likely-jounin.

“Six accompanying us,” Sakura replied promptly. “Doesn’t seem like that many for a group this size.”

“Well, we are ninja as well,” Kakashi reminded her.

“But aren’t we supposed to be their guests, or whatever?” Sakura asked, eyebrows pinched together. “I mean, Grass is supposed to be super dedicated to details, and courtesy is one of things that’s most highly valued by them, right? I think it’d be really rude to expect your guests to defend themselves, even if they are ninja.”

Kurenai looked over at Sakura, a pleased look gracing her face. Kakashi hid his smile behind _Icha Icha_. Grown up, indeed.

“You’re right, Sakura,” Kakashi said. “It is a small number for such a large group. What can we tell from that, then?”

Sakura paused, thinking before she spoke. Kakashi tried not to let his smile grow larger.

“They’re undermanned,” Sakura said after a few seconds. “The war with Waterfall is affecting them more than they’ve told us.”

“And?” Kurenai looked at him, and Kakashi shrugged. Sakura had always had a good head on her shoulders – he just wanted to see if it’d gotten any brighter.

“And… they will want to negotiate a new treaty with us as soon as possible, so they can rely on our support. Or at least so they’ll be sure that we won’t support Waterfall. They’ll probably give us anything we demand,” she said, quicker, her voice brightening. “Because they can’t risk that we won’t accept their offer. They’ll want to get things over with as quickly as possible so we can’t think about what they want in great detail, while trying to honour us so we feel flattered.” She looked out the window at the onsen and their surroundings with an introspective look on her face. “So they sent us this escort. But if they want to make us feel honoured, then making us protect ourselves isn’t going to be part of the deal… So they must have literally not been able to spare more than six ninja.”

“Or one of them is highly talented,” Kurenai said. “Which is the case here. But you’re mostly right; we’re heading into a charged situation, and that’s reflected in how many ninja are escorting us.”

“The ninja,” Kakashi prompted again.

“Right,” Sakura said. “Two genin, three chuunin and one jounin. Genin are fresh out of the Academy, this is probably their first escort mission. Two of the chuunin have twenty years of experience between them, but probably aren’t going to go any further in their career. The jounin is related to the other chuunin; they’re half brother and sister. They have some sort of kekkei genkai _,_ but the people I talked to either didn’t know anything about it, or wouldn’t say anything. Uriki Janou and Uriki Habin are the jounin and chuunin, respectively.”

Kurenai nodded to Sakura’s words. “The civilians aren’t anything to write home about. A few merchants, lesser nobles. You’ll probably have to eat with some of them while we’re on the trip, but apart from that, they’re nothing to worry about.”

“What about Yuhita himself?”

“He’s high up,” Kurenai told him. “An important guy. You’d do best by making him like you, Kakashi.”

Kakashi sighed. Great, the guy with the boring stories was important. Because this mission wasn’t annoying enough already.

“Yamato should come by later,” Kakashi said. “Until then, you two should mingle. Go to the baths, make yourselves likable. You know the drill.”

Sakura nodded and turned to go, but Kurenai waited for a second. “Do you want me to make one of the baths available?” Onsen could be a good place to gather gossip, but if the only people here were the attendants for the group, then they probably wouldn’t learn anything special here. They had a few days to ferret out any juicy information.

Kakashi shook his head. “I don’t want the jounin to investigate any genjutsu. We don’t know her capabilities yet.”

Kurenai nodded while Sakura was staring at him with an eyebrow lifted. “Are you really _that_ paranoid about taking your mask off, Kakashi-sensei?”

Kakashi flicked his eyes down to his book to hide his discomfort as Kurenai turned her head to look at him, hand forming the hand sign for _clarify._ There wasn’t a hand sign for a question mark, which was probably what she was trying to get at. Kakashi flicked his fingers out in a _negative_ ; Sakura didn’t know about him.

Kurenai’s face turned disapproving as her fingers formed _medic_. Kakashi just shrugged in response; he hadn’t had the time or opportunity to tell Sakura since the mission had started.

Sakura was looking between them, eyes narrowed. Any more hand signs and she’d figure out that they were talking silently.

Kurenai waited until it was obvious that Kakashi wasn’t going to say anything. “Sakura,” she started. “Isn’t it vital for a medic to know _medical_ information about their patients?” She asked, stressing the _medical_. “So they can do their jobs as well as they can?”

“Yes,” Sakura said slowly, looking between them. She had figured out that she was missing something between them. “If a med-nin doesn’t have the correct information, they can administer medicine that could hinder, instead of help a patient.” The words fell out in an easy register; they were likely something that she had repeated many times in her years at the hospital.

“Which wouldn’t have an effect on this mission,” Kakashi said blandly, not looking at either of them.

Kurenai sighed, obviously not intending to push if Kakashi was adamant, but Sakura continued. “You can’t know that, Kakashi-sensei. Medicines can do different things, and lots of poisons have different effects depending on age, gender, sexuality, and blood type, as well as what you’ve been vaccinated or exposed to in the past. It’s important to know these things as a medical ninja.”

“My blood type is O negative, I’ve been exposed to more poisons than I could be bothered to list here, I’m twenty nine years old, have been involved with both binary genders and every one in between but am currently in a stable relationship, and I was born female.” Kakashi reels off the information in a level tone, keeping himself stiller than he normally stood. Kurenai shot him a look that let him know that she’d noticed how tense he was.

“No way… You?” Sakura asked slowly after a moment, confusion written across her features. “Are… in a relationship?”

Kakashi felt his eyebrows lift of their own accord.

“Who would agree to date you?” She looked completely floored, as if the thought of Kakashi with anyone had never occurred to her. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true,” Kurenai said quietly, a small smile playing around the edges of her mouth. Kakashi glared at her for a second before returning his gaze to his book, hating that he could feel himself blushing. “I know who it is.”

“What?” Sakura asked, looking genuinely sceptical. “And he didn’t… put them under a genjutsu, or something?”

Kurenai snorted. “To the extent of my knowledge, no.”

Kakashi bit his tongue swiftly before speaking, not missing Sakura’s use of _he_. “… You don’t –”

“Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura cut in, smiling at him a little. “The fact that someone is apparently willing to date you is of far greater interest to me than anything else you just said. But Kurenai-san was right; you should tell your medics important information.” She looked a little disapproving that he hadn’t said anything earlier. “So, now you have to tell me. Who is it?”

“Maa,” Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head. “You wouldn’t ask me to kiss and tell, would you?”

Sakura pouted, and Kakashi saw a gleam enter her eye. She was determined to find out who he was involved with. Well, he didn’t think Iruka would mind her knowing…

“Come on,” Kurenai said, eyes glowing with mirth. “We should go and mingle. We’ll report anything important straight away; the rest can wait until morning.”

Sakura hesitated but then nodded, following Kurenai out the window.

Kakashi closed his book with a soft sound and then turned to the corner of his room. “I know you’re there.”

He kept staring at the one shadow that was out of place until it wavered and detached itself from the wall, forming the shape of a lithe woman with dark red hair silently. He’d felt her move into his room just before Kurenai and Sakura had left, so she’d missed out on the meat of the conversation, but she still knew that they’d been in the same room together.

“Uriki Janou, no?” Kakashi drawled, tucking _Icha_ _Icha_ into his pocket and resisting the urge to palm a kunai. “How pleasant of you to drop in unannounced.”

“Hatake-san,” Uriki murmured. “You’re as good as they say.”

“And what do they say?” He asked, keeping focused on her. If he hadn’t seen her come in, he doubted that he would have noticed her presence. Her younger brother was here… if he had been in the room before Kakashi had entered –

“Habin isn’t here,” she said, her voice low and smoky. “It’s just us.”

“Hm,” Kakashi hummed. “What do you want?”

A perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose daintily. Kakashi didn’t let her coiffed appearance fool him; her chakra was as controlled as every hair on her head. She had excellent chakra control, maybe even as good as his own.

“Just to talk,” she said, voice velvet over steel. “After all, we _are_ allies… are we not?”

“Ever since the end of the last Great War,” Kakashi acknowledged. This was why he hated political missions – you had to figure out what your opponents wanted without letting your intentions show. It gave him a headache.

“Why don’t you show me what you’re famous for?” She purred, taking a step closer. “Take off the headband.” She looked him up and down, and Kakashi resisted the urge to react. Where was Tenzou when you needed him? “It needn’t be the last thing you take off, either.”

This close, he could taste the jutsu shimmering on her skin. It was a version of one that he’d used before, and he itched to take off his headband, not for what she was suggesting, but to record the variation she was using. It felt quite powerful.

“That won’t work on me,” he told her calmly. “Sorry.”

She narrowed her eyes before nodding, a touch of respect entering her eyes. “I see. You have more fortitude than many men.”

Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Well…” he said, drawing the word out and keeping his position where he was standing. That meant that they were still standing close together, and she hadn’t deactivated the jutsu yet. It was starting to scratch painfully at his skin. “If you don’t have any other business?”

Uriki tilted her head but stepped back. “Yuhita-sama would like you to join him for a light meal in his rooms. If you would,” she said, stepping back and gesturing to the door.

Ahh. She answered to the diplomat. That only brought up a whole host of other questions.

He eye smiled at her in response, and nodded his head. “After you; I insist.”

 

* * *

 

Airi stared at the hitai-ate lying on her bedside table. She’d put it there the day before last, when she’d been given it by Iruka-sensei. Today was their initiation into shinobi life. Ichimaru was standing at the door, freshly brushed and having already eaten her breakfast.

“It’s time,” she told her partner, and picked it up.

Her mother smiled at her brightly when she came into the kitchen. “Airi! Oh, you look so grown up with your forehead protector on!”

Airi suffered silently as her mother fussed over her, adjusting her new piece of equipment. Tanaka’s own hitai-ate was lying on the kitchen bench, as she hadn’t put it on yet. Her father, Gaku, had died when Airi was four, so she didn’t have many memories of him.

“Mum, let me go,” she eventually whined, pulling out of her grasp. “I’ve got to get to the Academy on time! We’re getting our team formations, and we’re going to meet our jounin-sensei! I can’t be late for that.”

“Of course,” Tanaka exclaimed, smiling. “Remember to be nice to whoever gets put on your team. And bring them over for dinner soon!”

Airi extracted herself from her mother’s grasp and ran towards the door, Ichimaru bounding after her, more than happy to leave the house.

The Inuzuka estate was large; each house had a swath of land around it for the dogs to claim as their own. The nearest house she could see was where Hana-san lived; and that was because, being a vet, Hana got the most central of houses in the middle of the estate on a small hill.

Airi followed the path towards the entrance, the small path meaning that she had to duck under some tree branches on her way out. Ichimaru followed, occasionally yipping happily.

Konoha’s streets were as busy as usual, but Airi imagined that she didn’t have to duck and weave around the crowds so much. It was almost like people noticed her more, and tried not to get in her way if they could help it. She touched her hitai-ate and grinned at Ichimaru.

“Looks like we’re finally getting some respect, hey?”

 _More like they’re respecting me_ , Ichimaru barked.

“Hey,” Airi said, offended. “You’re not the one with the hitai-ate.”

Ichimaru was silent as they continued towards the Academy. _You’re right. Can I have one?_

“Really?” Airi asked. When she barked a _yes_ , Airi shrugged. “Okay, I’ll ask Iruka-sensei for you.”

Both of them happy now, Airi opened the door to the Academy, arriving just as Iruka-sensei walked in the other door.

“Alright everyone, quiet down!” He shouted. The class went silent a lot faster than it normally did. Airi quickly sat in the first seat she saw, not wanting to attract Iruka-sensei’s ire.

“Cutting it close, don’t you think?”

Airi jumped and looked at who she was sitting next to. Shikaru was supporting her head on one of her hands, and while her expression was bored, Airi could see that her eyes were focused intently on Iruka.

“I…” Airi stuttered. Faced with her crush, her words got stuck in her throat for a long second before she could speak. Ichimaru huffed in amusement and hopped onto the table so she could see everything. “It was just crowded, on the way here, this morning, so you know, it took longer.”

Shikaru shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d show up, or you didn’t pass. You’re pretty young for it.”

Airi puffed out her chest and was about to tell Shikaru-chan that she _was_ ready for this, thank you very much, when Iruka-sensei started talking.

“First of all, I’d like to congratulate you all on graduating from the Academy!” He smiled brightly, and most of the class smiled in return. _Everyone_ liked Iruka-sensei. “I want you to know that I’m proud of you all, and that I think you’ll all become fine ninja. The village is lucky to have you.”

He waited until the next murmurs stopped before continuing. “Now, I know you’re all itching to find out what teams you’ll be on, so I’ll get right to it. Just so there’s no confusion, let me say again; each team will have three team members. You’ll all be taken under the wing of a jounin, one of the most powerful ninja in the village. They will teach you and guide you until your entire team reaches the rank of chuunin. Then, the team will be disbanded, and you’ll all serve Konoha as individuals, to be put where you’ll be best of use. Understand?”

The class nodded seriously.

“Alright! Then, without further ado, let’s get on to it.” Iruka-sensei cleared his throat and looked down at the list in his hands. “Team three. Ushi Hika, Yamoranu Taka, and Igaji Shin.”

Airi watched the three people stand up and bit her lip. She really wanted to be on a team with Shikaru-chan… And not on a team with Akane. The other girl had been nice to her lately, but Airi could still tell that she disliked her, contrary to what she said and did.

Another team was called from the other class that had taken the test alongside Iruka-sensei’s class, and then Iruka looked directly at her.

“Team five. Tabake Kaede, Aburame Yuuki, and Shimura Naoki.”

Airi sighed. She’d been _certain_ her name was about to be called. Oh well. The more teams that were called that didn’t include herself and Shikaru meant that there was more chance of them being in the same team together.

Another team from the other class was called up, and Airi twitched in her seat, impatient. Normally she would be messing with her hair, trying to get it to stay out of her face, but with her hitai-ate on, it was contained neatly. Huh. Maybe she’d wear it all the time, then, if it kept her hair out of her face.

“Team eight. Yamananka Inori, Nara Shikaru and Akimichi Chouko.”

“Not Inori!” Chouko yelled in dismay from the other side of the room. Inori sunk down into his seat, looking sheepish. Shikaru sighed heavily beside her.

“I knew it,” Shikaru muttered. “Why can’t they just get along?”

“Team nine. Hyuuga Hanabi, Yamada Kenji and Kawaguchi Ren.”

Airi narrowed her eyes at the remaining people left. Ryuu was fidgeting at the front of the class, but everyone else seemed to have been taken… Except…!

“Team eleven. Shizen Akane, Inuzuka Airi and Suzuki Ryuu.”

Ichimaru barked loudly, and Iruka closed the notes he had in his hand. “And Ichimaru, of course. Your jounin-sensei should be here in the next few minutes, so make sure you all pay attention as your names are called, alright?”

Iruka sat down behind his desk and the entire class burst out talking. Shikaru combed her fingers through her hair in exasperation as Ichimaru bounded off towards Ryuu to get to know him.

Airi looked towards Akane out of the corner of her eye. The other girl looked annoyed but resigned. Airi bit her lip. Akane would have no choice but to pay attention to her and like her now – they were in the same team! And Iruka-sensei always said that teamwork in a team was one of their strongest assets.

Now that she was thinking about it… Ryuu used strong genjutsu attacks. Airi liked taijutsu the most – there was little else as satisfying as feeling her fist connect with someone’s face after they’d insulted Ichimaru or had attacked her first. She rubbed the cut that Kenji had given her with his katana on her left arm; it was shallow, but it had scarred. She’d beaten him in their fight, and taken their token. It had been one of the best moments that she could remember; standing over him, victorious.

Akane used her clan ability in the ninjutsu that she utilised; she could control plants. It was actually quite a balanced team that Airi had been assigned to, and she found herself smiling a little. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as she thought it was going to be.

A solid man with interesting marks on his cheeks came in the door first, announcing that he would be in charge of team nine from now on. Hanabi, Kenji and Ren stood up and followed him out of the classroom. Airi sneezed at his smell; it was strong, and had a tang to it, like the exploding tags that her mother said she couldn’t touch until she was a genin.

After that, two more jounin came in to collect two other teams. Shikaru moved over to sit with Chouko and Inori, but Airi stayed where she was.

A man wearing a bandana and who had a senbon in his mouth sauntered in next, calling for team eight in a voice that made it obvious that he’d rather be anywhere but where he was. Airi felt a little sorry for Shikaru and Chouko; he didn’t seem eager to teach like some of the other jounin had.

Airi looked up from where she was sitting when the door slid open again. To her surprise, two Nara’s walked through the door; Shikamaru, Shikaru’s cousin, and an older man that Airi didn’t recognise but was clearly related to Shikamaru. All the Nara had the same dark skin and dark hair, and the older man had his hair pulled up in the classic Nara ponytail.

“Team five?” The older man asked jovially, looking at the nine freshly minted genin that were still sitting in the room.

Naoki and Kaede stood up, and Yuuki walked towards him from where he’d been leaning on the wall at the side of the room. Shikamaru watched them leave before sighing.

“Alright, where’s team eleven?”

Airi stood up slowly, frowning a little. She didn’t think that Shikamaru was a jounin. Or had he been promoted since she’d last spoken to Shikaru about him?

Shikamaru led them outside, not saying anything until they’d arrived in one of the training grounds nearest the Academy.

“Alright, I’m going to level with you guys,” Shikamaru said, staring up at the clouds above them. “I’m not a jounin, and I’m not going to be your jounin-sensei.”

“What?” Airi said, alarmed, as Ichimaru barked her objections loudly.

“Yah, yah, be quiet,” Shikamaru said, waving at Ichimaru. “I get enough barking from Akamaru as it is, and now I’m going to have to put up with your barking as well. What a drag.”

“What do you mean?” Ryuu asked, rubbing his hands together nervously. “We’re still going to get to be a team, right?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about any of that,” Shikamaru told him. “Look guys, the fact of the matter is, there were just way too many graduating genin this year. There’s usually a max of four or five teams, and there were nine this time around. That’s great for the future, but right now Konoha can barely spare the jounin needed for four new genin teams, let alone nine. Tsunade-sama pulled all that she could, but she could only come up with eight on such short notice. You guys are just the unlucky ones that are going to have to put up with me for the next month or so, until your real jounin-sensei gets back from her mission.”

“Who is it, then?” Akane questioned, looking up from where she was digging her feet into the earth.

“Ahh, I think you know her, Ryuu-kun,” Shikamaru said, scratching the back of his head. “Kurenai-sensei will be your jounin-sensei. She’s really good, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Yeah!” Ryuu cheered. “Kurenai-sensei! She’s awesome!”

Airi, Akane and Shikamaru watched him throw his hands up in the air and cheer with varying degrees of attentiveness.

“Look guys,” Shikamaru said, shrugging. “Usually jounin instructors give each genin team a test to see if they’re really cut out to be genin, but I’m not your jounin-sensei, and I’m not bothered enough to administer any sort of test. However, I will need to get a grasp on what each of you are like, your strengths and weaknesses and such, so that I can devise a training program for each of you.”

He looked at Airi. “Alright. I can already see that you’re an Inuzuka. What else?”

Airi sucked in a breath. “I’m alright at breaking genjutsu and my mum is teaching me our clan jutsu. But I really like beating up my opponent!”

“… I see,” Shikamaru said. He turned his gaze to Ryuu. “And you?”

“I’m Suzuki Ryuu, and Kurenai-sensei’s been tutoring me and she says my genjutsu abilities have the capacity to match hers! I think I could probably be better at ninjutsu, but I can do all the Academy jutsu. I don’t like fighting people hand to hand all that much, and I think Airi and Ichimaru have issues because they like fighting so much!”

Airi scowled at Ryuu and Ichimaru barked her protest. 

“Right,” Shikamaru said, interrupting anything that might have been said after that. “What about you?”

Akane shrugged. “I can fight if I need to. But I prefer tripping people up with my jutsu.”

“Hm,” Shikamaru said after they’d all finished. “I see. Well, there’s just one more thing I want to see before I can plan out everything.”

He opened one of the pockets of his flak vest, and carefully pulled out a package. He unwrapped it gingerly, careful not to touch the contents.

Airi frowned when she saw they were just pieces of paper. “What are those?”

“Are you dumb?” Akane huffed. “They test for your elemental affinity. I already know mine; I have water and earth chakra affinity. All of the people of my clan do.”

Shikamaru shrugged. “Take one anyway, so the others can see what it does.”

Akane reached forward and took a single sheet of paper. She frowned at it, and after a moment, Airi saw the chakra ripple through the paper. It wriggled and then started dripping water, droplets falling to the ground.

“I’ve got a primary water affinity,” Akane said, rolling her eyes. “Jeez, don’t you even know your own affinity?”

“Your clan operates differently from others, Akane-chan,” Shikamaru said. “Ryuu-kun. Take a piece of paper.”

Ryuu reached forward and took a single piece, staring at it. It did nothing.

“You’ve gotta run your chakra through it,” Akane told him.

“Oh,” Ryuu muttered. He screwed up his face and the paper burst into flame. Ryuu yelped as he dropped the paper.

“Fire affinity,” Shikamaru said. “Airi-chan, you’re up next.”

Airi nodded and reached for a piece of paper, directing chakra to her hands. As soon as she touched it, it crinkled up around her hands, creasing clearly.

“Hey, how come mine didn’t do anything cool?” Airi skulked, staring at her crumbled piece of paper. She could do this herself! Getting wet and suddenly catching fire were a lot cooler.

Shikamaru stared at her with a calculating glint in his eyes. “That is still pretty cool, Airi-chan. Very few people have lightning chakra as their first elemental transformation. When it is represented, it is usually as a secondary ability. Even then, it’s uncommon in the Land of Fire. Was your father from Kumo?”

Airi drew her shoulders up, scowling at Shikamaru. “Hey! My dad was a Leaf nin! Don’t say stuff like that.”

“Your mother, then?”

“No!” Airi near shouted, resisting the urge to growl. Ichimaru felt no such compulsion. “What on earth are you talking about? Both my parents are Inuzuka’s.”

“Hm,” Shikamaru said. “I’m fairly sure they aren’t. You look like you’re only half Inuzuka. Your eyes aren’t slitted, and no Inuzuka I’ve ever heard of has had lightning as their first affinity. They’re usually earth or water. As well as your distinctive hair. You almost look like…” Shikamaru trailed off, eyes unfocusing.

“That’s not true,” Airi told him, but her stomach was twisting itself into knots. “Don’t say such things, Shikamaru-san.”

Shikamaru was still staring into the distance. “…Damn,” he eventually muttered. His eyes focused on Airi sharply. “How old are you, brat?”

“I turned ten two months ago,” Airi said, sticking her chin out.

“That old?” Shikamaru said. He seemed surprised. “Well, I guess we can’t all be geniuses.”

Airi scowled at him. Shikaru hadn’t said that her cousin was such a jerk.

“Anyways,” Shikamaru said, addressing the whole group again. “I need to go and plan out lessons for you all. Since we technically aren’t a team yet, unfortunately we’re not going to be able to take any missions, no matter what rank they are. So it’s just going to be training for everyone.”

Airi looked over to see that both Akane and Ryuu looked upset by this development. She was as well; ninja developed through how many missions they took and completed successfully.

“How long did you say Kurenai-sensei would be away for?” Ryuu sighed sadly.

Shikamaru looked as thrilled with the whole situation as the rest of them. Airi used that to prop up her own lack of enthusiasm for the next few weeks until their _real_ jounin-sensei turned up.

 

* * *

 

Shikamaru watched Airi, Akane and Ryuu walk away together and sighed to himself.

Great. He had to deal with not only the daughter of one of the most troublesome women he knew, but also a timid genjutsu user and a girl who he was ninety per cent certain was Kakashi’s daughter.

The girl obviously had no idea who her real father was, and he didn’t blame Kakashi for keeping her lineage a secret. But the Inuzuka Clan? Really? He’d mixed genes with them? It must have been an accident. Kakashi had been, what, eighteen when she’d been conceived? It was probably from a wild night out with some Inuzuka girl that happened to end with the kid he’d just faced off against.

Honestly, Shikamaru couldn’t believe it’d taken him this long to figure it out. The wildly out of place grey hair should have been more than enough.

And now he was going to have to find a way to get them to realise their own abilities so that would work on them even after Shikamaru left them. As well as utilize their prospective teamwork.

The Shizen girl would obviously have to focus on her clan jutsu; when used properly, Shikamaru could think of few things that were more deadly in an open environment. The boy would likely do well as a healer if his chakra control was good enough; Shikamaru had seen little willingness to fight in him. The Hatake would have to get onto her lightning jutsu immediately. Her chakra reserves needed to mature as quickly as possible, and the fastest way to do that was through continually draining them and forcing them to recover, time and time again.

By the time he reached the corner where he was planning on meeting up with Ino and Chouji, he already had a plan for each of them individually, and as a team, tucked into the back of his mind.

Troublesome, but he actually found himself looking forward to the challenges his new team would provide him with.

 

* * *

 

Kakashi resisted the urge to rub Obito’s eye. It’d been acting up all day, but because he was stuck in this dreary, forsaken meeting room, he couldn’t. His every action was being watched by over twenty politicians, and if Kakashi knew anything about politicians, it was that they used every advantage they had. They didn’t need to know that his eye was annoying them.

Kurenai was sitting to his right, Sakura beside her. Tenzou was probably lying in the sun, laughing at them. He was going to find a way to get the wood user into _one_ of these meetings if it killed him.

They’d been dragging on for nearly three weeks now, but Kakashi was hoping for it all to end today. They’d been scheduled in for nearly four hours every day, which apparently was the longest that the Grass daimyo could stand in this stuffy room. However, when all the distractions were added in, it meant that they had about two hours to meet over the new treaty every day. Not to mention, the daimyo had just decided that he wasn’t going to see anyone the day before last, and had gone riding around his estate. Random days off weren’t helping his patience with the whole state of affairs for the negotiations.

The shadow-hopper was sitting opposite him on the large table. She hadn’t been far from him the entire time they’d been here, and watching the shadows for something that _might_ be there was awakening ANBU instincts that he’d thought he’d buried. She just _smiled_ at him whenever she saw him, oh so conveniently standing around a corner from where he’d been standing. He was fairly sure that she was still trying to seduce him, and as equally sure that the jutsu she’d been trying to use wouldn’t work at all on him. It was one that appealed only to male hormones, and while he hated to disappoint, there was just no chance that that was going to work.

That was the main reason he’d banished Tenzou from the conference room; if she decided to go after him instead, Kakashi wasn’t sure if his kouhai could resist. Tenzou had a strong will, but the jutsu that Uriki was leaking was extremely potent.

“Fuuyu-sama, please,” Kurenai was saying, her voice as calm and collected as it’d been when they’d entered this morning. Kakashi’s respect for her was growing with every second she kept her temper; this was the eighth time she’d protested this one point. The daimyo kept repeating it wrong – Kakashi wasn’t sure if he was stupid, or if he thought that if he persisted enough, he’d eventually get his way.

Kami, he just wanted to go home.

There’d been no attacks by any Grass or Waterfall nin so far, unless you counted Uriki’s advances an attack. Which they could be… maybe if he accused her of attacking him… maybe something would happen that was actually interesting…

“Hmm, if you say so, Kurenai-san,” Fuuyu hummed, peering at the documents in front of him.

Was he kidding? That was the third time Kurenai had explained that one piece of writing to him in the last twenty minutes alone. It like he was _deliberately_ drawing things out –

Wait.

Was the daimyo sweating more than normal? Kakashi had thought it strange that he sweated at all in this weather, but had put it down to a health issue, since the man never stopped. He flicked his eye around the room, assessing both the politicians and the ninja that were at the edges of the hall.

He shifted in his seat, letting his fingers fall into the _alert_ sign. Kurenai’s eyes sharpened, but the pleasant look didn’t leave her face as she started the next section.

Uriki was watching him with a piercing gaze. Kakashi met it squarely, then winked at her. Her face transformed into something unpleasant for half a second before going back to its beautiful veneer, but he had seen it. It wasn’t something that he was going to forget.

Tenzou was standing by outside, hidden, but that meant that Kakashi couldn’t get a message to him. If something happened in here, he would likely arrive too late to assist them in any fighting. Kakashi slid his eye along the other people sitting at the table. Most of them looked completely clueless, either staring at nothing or looking like they were asleep where they were sitting, but there was one near the end of the table that looked distinctly nervous. He’d put it down to being in the presence of the daimyo, since Kakashi hadn’t seen him before, but perhaps it was something else. Yuhita was in the room as well, his ever present orange and red fan in front of his face. He had his eyes fixed on the daimyo, half focused. He was probably thinking about a way to get his damn fabrics into the country. Thanks to the week-long trip here, Kakashi was now far more knowledgeable than he ever wanted to be about the difficulties of exporting and importing different types of silk and pearls to Grass.

One of the ninja around the edge of the room left, and Kakashi recognised the brother of the shadow user in front of him take their place. He licked his lips and rolled his shoulders, stretching them. He wanted to be ready for whatever happened here.

Kurenai flicked her fingers into _wait_ for a half second before forming a loose fist. Kakashi settled back into his chair, not paying attention to whatever she was saying.

Kakashi felt the insidious chakra a moment before the windows went black and the room was plunged into darkness.

Kakashi cursed as Uriki’s presence disappeared from in front of him; with the pitch blackness, she could use any shadow she wanted to hide in. Kakashi flicked up his hitai-ate, jumped on top of the table, and pushed his fingers through a quick series of hand seals to form a jutsu he picked up in Wave when he was a teenager.

The fireball that he released ascended slowly, not burning anything, until it hovered ten metres above him. The bright light it emitted destroyed any shadows, and he saw the younger Uriki appear from nowhere on the floor as the shadow he was in ceased to exist. Damn. He’d been hoping that catching them out in their shadow would kill them, but it looked like it just expelled them from their jutsu.

Uriki Janou was nowhere to be seen.

“Kakashi,” Kurenai bit out, landing next to him lithely.

Kakashi looked down the row at the number of dignitaries that had been listening to their treaty negotiation. All of them were lying in pools of their own blood, except the one on the end that Kakashi had picked out as knowing about everything; he was missing. Yuhita wasn’t in his chair either. Kakashi was surprised. There’d been something off about the man, but he hadn’t seemed to be the type to get entangled in something like this.

Kakashi leapt over to the younger Uriki, Habin. The chuunin paled when Kakashi touched a kunai to his neck, staring at him with his Sharingan spinning.

“What is happening?” Kakashi asked, glad to hear his voice come out as completely pleasant. The boy whitened even more at his tone, but didn’t try to move.

“Kakashi-sensei, how long will the jutsu last?” Sakura asked, staring around at all the bodies with her horror carefully hidden in her eyes.

“As long as I can keep it up,” Kakashi said. He could already feel the Sharingan sucking away at his chakra greedily, so he probably didn’t have that long before he would have to close Obito’s eye and cease the fire jutsu. “Kurenai, the other one?”

“I didn’t see her move,” Kurenai said, a touch of anger, probably at herself, in her voice. “She could be anywhere.”

“She hasn’t gone far,” Kakashi promised, keeping both eyes on the boy. “She wants me. Isn’t that right, brat?”

Habin screwed up his eyes as Kakashi pressed the kunai to his throat, but didn’t say anything.

“And she seemed fond of you,” Kakashi continued, trying to get a rise out of him while Kurenai stood guard. Tenzou should have been here by now. If he wasn’t, it was likely that they had a far greater problem then he’d originally thought.

Kakashi moved the kunai just a little, so that he drew blood. The threat was obvious, and the boy grit his teeth. “Okay, okay! She’s mad at you. That’s why she kept following you even though she wasn’t supposed to draw any attention to herself.”

“Hm,” Kakashi said. “Got a temper, does she?”

“No way,” Habin said immediately. “But boy, does she get grudges.”

 _Great_. This was the exact opposite of what he needed right now.

“What were you supposed to do?” Kakashi asked him, debating whether to put him into a genjutsu to make him more pliable. Although, with the fire ball and the Sharingan, he didn’t want to drain his chakra more than he had to. There was always Kamui, but that was only when he was truly desperate, and had an actual target; they still had to figure out who was behind this. “What was the plan?”

“I don’t know,” he said stubbornly. Kakashi cut a little deeper, feeling blood wet his gloves. “I don’t! Janou-neesan just said which of these stuffy guys I had to kill! She said that she’d take care of the ninja and the rest of them!”

Kakashi flicked his eyes to the sides of the room; sure enough, the ninja that had been loitering there were dead as well. His estimation of Uriki’s abilities soared – sure, killing civilians was one thing, but managing to kill eleven chuunin in a few seconds was something else.

“The daimyo is gone,” Kurenai muttered lowly.

“His body guards probably spirited him away the second anything happened,” Sakura said quietly. “Didn’t want to get caught up in any of it.”

“Or he already knew it was going to happen, and he wasn’t a target,” Kakashi suggested. “Don’t rule that out either.” He kept scanning the shadows around the hall, trying to find one that moved or looked out of place. “We need to get out of here.”

“Not so fast.” Janou’s voice echoed mournfully around the hall, bouncing off the walls so Kakashi couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. He had her scent, but the crowded bodies in the hall and then the blood on top of it made it impossible to track her by that. He had to give her points for the shadow technique she was using; until she moved, it would be impossible to see where she was hiding. “We haven’t finished playing yet, Kakashi.”

“I wouldn’t be so familiar,” Kakashi growled. He looked down at the chuunin under him and then knocked him out with a sharp jab at his neck into a cluster of nerves. The boy stiffened and then fell lax to the ground.

“Why not? I do say, you have impressed me. It’s not often that that happens.”

“Sakura, Kurenai, go and find Yamato, see what is happening outside. This is just a diversion; I’ll deal with this one.”

Kurenai shot him a worried look as he stepped forward into the middle of the well-lit space. He didn’t know what was covering the windows, but they needed to be gone, fast. The fire ball was draining his chakra far too quickly for him to keep it up if he was going to go up against this woman.

“Go!” Kakashi ordered, and Kurenai nodded once, bounding up to a window and crashing through it. Sakura followed, through another window, meaning that there was more light inside than there had been. Kakashi heard the sounds of metal clashing and bit his tongue. He couldn’t worry about them now.

He opened his weapons pouch, deftly attached a few exploding tags to three kunai, and sent them towards the last three windows.

A shadow reached out of nowhere to grab two of the kunai, yanking them into the darkness. The third one exploded on the window, and shattered the one next to it as well.

With most of the natural light restored, Kakashi released the fireball hovering above them, the sharp light from it receding to soft, natural light. The sun was setting, which meant that he would have to complete this quickly; he had no idea how well she would be able to fight at night. However, the angle of the sun as it was streamed straight into the room; until it set, he would have the advantage.

He closed the Sharingan to conserve chakra and looked around the hall. No figure emerged, and Kakashi tutted loudly. “Still hiding?”

“Not anymore,” Janou said, and Kakashi jumped, feeling his legs twinge at the speed of which he pushed chakra into them. She missed grabbing him by the barest second, and Kakashi watched upside down on the roof as she emerged from where his own shadow had been lying.

He felt a feral grin turn up the corners of his mouth. He hadn’t felt this challenged in years.

An answering snarl twisted her face as she didn’t try to keep up her aloof beauty. “Why? What is so special about you?”

“Well, you’re not going to find out,” Kakashi said cheerfully. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what’s going on?”

She darted towards him. Kakashi met her kunai with his own, attempting to catch her with his Sharingan, but she didn’t look into his eye as they tested their strength for a strained second.

She was good. Kakashi broke it off and leaped back a few steps, both of them now standing on the ceiling. Her eyes were cold as they assessed him, watching as he twirled the kunai absently in his hand.

“That it?” He asked, hoping that it would anger her. She didn’t move, staring at him silently. So, she wasn’t one to lose her cool in the midst of battle. Oh well, he could deal with her either way.

She didn’t bother replying as she leapt towards him again. Kakashi raised the kunai and prepared to fight.

 


	6. Inspiration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris is symbolic of higher _inspiration._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was going to be combined with the next one, but it was getting pretty long and had a nice break in the middle, so you get an extra chapter!

 Sakura looked back towards where Kakashi-sensei was facing off against the woman who could disappear into shadows.

“He’ll be alright,” Kurenai told her, voice certain. “Kakashi’s dealt with far worse than her before.”

But she hadn’t really _seen_ him do it; she was there for his fight with Zabuza, but that was about it.

“I know,” Sakura said, but she didn’t sound certain.

Kurenai glanced at her but didn’t say anything about her tone. “We have to find Yamato. Kakashi was right to worry about him.”

Sakura nodded and focused on searching out their teammate. Kurenai changed direction suddenly, and Sakura followed, trusting Kurenai’s instincts more than her own.

Kurenai landed in a tree silently, and Sakura landed beside her, not as silently. She quickly scanned what was happening in the clearing below them.

Yamato was fighting a ninja without a hitai-ate on his forehead, their kunai clashing. There were five bodies scattered around them, either dead or unconscious.

“You see if there are any survivors we can question, I’ll help Yamato,” Kurenai whispered to her. Sakura nodded, and walked down the tree on the opposite side to where Yamato and the other ninja were fighting.

Kurenai shimmered and disappeared from the tree branch, and Sakura shivered as she recognised the work of a genjutsu master. The first ninja that she made it to was dead, so she retreated before she went to the next.

The third ninja that she checked on was alive, so she stabilised the kunai wound down his arm so that he wouldn’t bleed out. She looked up to see Kurenai and Yamato binding the ninja that they’d captured with ropes while she did so. They stepped back, and Kurenai talked quietly with him for a second. Yamato lowered his eyebrows and then nodded and said something back before jumping off to where they’d left Kakashi-sensei.

Kurenai went around quickly and checked the other fallen ninja for any life. She picked up the last one that she looked at and brought them over to where Sakura was sitting and healing her unconscious ninja.

Sakura didn’t want to be them when they woke up.

“I’m going to do a quick sweep, okay?” Kurenai said, her voice brooking no dissent. “I won’t be a minute.”

Sakura watched her bound off into the trees and stabilised the man she was working on so that she could then help the woman Kurenai had deposited near her.

 

* * *

 

Kakashi wet his lips as he stuck himself to the ceiling again. It seemed to be the only place that Janou couldn’t get to with her shadows, but she usually found a way to make him move fairly quickly.

He slipped his hand into his weapons pouch, counting the kunai and shuriken that he had left. Just under half of what he’d started with, and he’d only managed to hit her twice.

He cut the chakra to his legs and fell just as a pair of senbon hit exactly where he’d been standing, their shadows quivering as a hand appeared out of them, and retreated just as quickly. He felt a kunai nick his leg, and smiled before he twisted to land on his feet.

Obito’s eye was swirling in his head, the only reason he’d been able to see the senbon coming. He couldn’t copy any kekkei genkai _,_ but he could see through most of them. Somehow, Janou could travel between shadows and appear where she wanted to. Such a technique was good, but surely it had to be costly in terms of chakra.

He went through some hand seals and launched another fireball where the Sharingan showed she’d appear in another half second. That shadow disappeared, but Janou was hidden again when the fire died down.

He was trying not to breathe too heavily, not sure how she located her opponent. It might be just through sight, but obscuring the room would only give her more shadows to work with. He flicked his eyes towards the window, but every time he’d tried to for it, she’d stopped him decisively.

A plan started to form in the back of his mind as he dodged another pair of senbon. He hadn’t heard anything from outside, so hopefully Kurenai and Sakura had been able to find Tenzou and help him.

He went through the familiar seals for a lightning clone and two appeared on either side of him, streaking off to opposite sides of the room. Both of the clones summoned fireballs of their own while Kakashi did as well, disappearing as they used their chakra up. In the two seconds that the fireballs lit up the entirety of the room, Kakashi made a break for outside, while straining to see where Janou was hidden.

He saw the kunai coming towards him a second before it hit, so he could twist so it only scored his arm instead of sinking into it. He saw the thin wires covering the window before he was completely there, and slowed himself down enough so that he could perform one of the fastest earth jutsu of his life.

The summoned earth went ahead and got fried by the wires, but destroyed them before Kakashi could touch them. He somersaulted through the air to land on his feet on the grass outside, and pulled a kunai so he could be ready to face whatever Janou threw at him.

He waited a second before the shadow user appeared in the window frame, glaring at him. “You hide in the sunlight? Who would do such a cowardly thing?”

“It only makes sense to use your opponent’s weaknesses,” Kakashi said, loosening his shoulders. “To do otherwise would be very foolish.”

Janou looked at him for a long moment. “Your reputation is not completely undeserved, Sharingan no Kakashi. I am quite honoured to see it, of course.”

“Which hidden village do you answer to?” Kakashi asked her. She didn’t answer, tilting her head instead. A leaf in the tree above him twitched, out of place with the wind, and Kakashi tightened his grip on his kunai for a second until he recognised it.

“Hm… Are all Leaf shinobi as cold as you? I wonder…” She flicked her hands through a few hand seals and Kakashi tensed as he felt Tenzou’s chakra flicker slightly from where it was concealed in the tree above him.

_Retreat, danger,_ Kakashi signed quickly, and a few leaves rustled as Tenzou shifted, about to jump back.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Janou said in a low voice. “I’ve got him now, Kakashi. He’s sweet; can I keep him?”

Kakashi bit his lip until he tasted blood and then looked up. Tenzou had his face screwed up and was breathing laboriously, arms tense as he tried to keep himself on the branch.

“Let him go,” Kakashi said, quietly. He spun his kunai back into his pouch and grabbed one of his modified summoning scrolls, swiping his hand through one of the places where she’s scored him to get a handful of blood to use.

Janou’s face twisted again, and Kakashi shivered as he felt the edge of the jutsu she was using to ensnare Tenzou grow stronger. His kouhai made a strangled sound and fell off the branch he’d been sitting on, hitting the ground with a loud _thump._

Kakashi smeared the blood along the summoning and flicked the scroll up into the air while he flashed through the familiar _Tiger, Snake, Dragon, Dog_ seals to summon most of his pack.

“Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu,” he murmured, grabbing his scroll and planting it on the ground, the summoning ink appearing around his hands.

Janou scowled at him and slipped into a shadow at the bottom of the window. Kakashi grinned with feral abandon as her scream echoed out of the ground towards him.

His dogs crashed out of the ground, the woman trapped between their teeth. Kakashi felt her jutsu break, and Tenzou take a shuddering breath behind him.

“Who do you answer to?” Kakashi asked again, staring at her pale face.

She swallowed and bared her teeth at him, not saying anything. She still didn’t meet either of his eyes, so he couldn’t trap her in one of his genjutsu to take the answers from her. He was running low on chakra, so he closed the Sharingan to stop any extra leakage.

“Tenzou?” He asked softly, not taking his eye off the woman in front of him. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Tenzou’s tense voice said from behind him. “I have no idea how you managed to resist that.”

“I’ll tell you later,” Kakashi said softly, taking a few steps towards his prisoner. Janou’s blood was splattered everywhere, but she hadn’t tried to escape ( _yet_ ) so she probably knew that moving would only cause her to bleed more and hasten her death.

Janou only shook her head as he took another step towards her. “What was supposed to happen?” He asks her quietly, putting his hands into his pockets. “Were you meant to capture or kill us?”

Janou closed her eyes. Kakashi grimaced as he crouched in front of her. “Janou.”

She refused to open her eyes, even when Bull gave her a shake. “Yamato-san,” he said, louder. “Go and help the others. Find out what you can.”

Tenzou picked himself up off the ground gingerly and jumped away from the two of them, towards where he’d left Sakura and Kurenai.

Kakashi reached out to touch her; the easiest sense for genjutsu to effect was touch, as you could manipulate someone’s chakra system directly that way. Janou twitched as his fingers touched her skin, and Kakashi was readying his tired chakra to cast a powerful one on her that would almost guarantee that she would talk when –

Perhaps if he had Obito’s eye open he would have seen it coming, but even then, Kakashi had his doubts. The shadow rocketed up between them, going through Shiba’s leg and cutting deeply into the front of Kakashi’s chest. If he hadn’t seen the red of his ninken’s blood a split second before the shadow reached him, Kakashi was fairly certain that he would have been impaled.

“ _Scatter_ ,” he bit out sharply, his ninken turning into blurs of motion, Shiba slower than the others.

Janou stumbled as the teeth that had been holding up her disappeared. She caught herself as Kakashi darted away. He pressed a hand to the bleeding gash down his front, through his vest, and grimaced as his hand came away sticky with blood. Another vest ruined. The chakra signatures of his ninken, so similar to his own, were scattered around the clearing in their usual groups of two, waiting for orders or an opportunity to attack.

Her shadow techniques were eerily similar to the Nara’s that he’d worked with; he’d be willing to bet that somewhere along the line, the two Clans had been one. Maybe Shikaku should have taken this mission after all. He would have enjoyed analysing the differences between the two of them.

Janou jumped to the side and slid into a shadow, disappearing. Kakashi sprang away from the tree he was standing under, towards where she’d gone. He could see the trail of blood that she’d left, and if he could see it, it would be more than easy to track her.

Pakkun hopped onto his shoulder and Kakashi winced internally as he scratched one of the cuts there. “Sorry,” Pakkun muttered, nose flaring as he sniffed the air. “Either smell doesn’t transmit while she’s underground, or she’s still at the same place she went under.”

Kakashi twitched his head to show that he’d heard, and started slowly walking towards the shadow Janou had hidden herself in. He would bet that she was licking her wounds, putting a few bandages on so that she wouldn’t bleed out.

There was a movement behind him, and Kakashi jerked himself around only to see Kurenai sitting in a tree thirty metres away. She raised an eyebrow at him and he tilted his head towards the shadow he thought Janou was hiding in. Kurenai pursed her lips and dropped to the ground, coming towards him on silent steps. Kakashi didn’t know for certain whether or not Janou could see out of the shadows, but he thought that she could; otherwise, the technique would have a major flaw. He wasn’t sure whether Kurenai should be coming towards him in broad daylight until he felt the whisper of her chakra as the image she’d made of herself got within an arm span of him. So, she was hiding in the trees, waiting for her opportunity to strike, while their opponent thought that both of them were there. Clever.

“Are you really going to keep us waiting?” Kakashi asked the air. The sun was almost touching the horizon, and he really didn’t want to know how her abilities worked at night. “I would have thought that whoever is in charge would have wanted you to bring us in as soon as possible.”

There was no answer from Janou, and Kakashi sighed to himself. Every time he faced an enemy with _some_ sense it always made the battle drag on for far longer than it should. And he couldn’t afford that this time. The shadows were growing bigger with every second.

A leaf falling from a tree to his left was all that betrayed Kurenai. Kakashi saw it, and he was sure that Janou would have as well, if she were watching. And if he were her, he wouldn’t go after the strongest one first… He’d –

Kakashi turned in time to see Janou leap out of a shadow next to Kurenai, her kunai glinting in the low light. None of his ninken were close enough to get there in the second Kurenai had, and although she was raising her own kunai to block, she’d be a second too late. A second in which Janou would have more than enough time to bury her knife in Kurenai’s throat. A second in which Kakashi would lose another one of his teammates.

_No._

Kakashi’s left eye opened, and instead of the normal three tomoe pattern, a pinwheel swirled into existence, black and blood red.

The air near Janou’s arm shimmered and skittered, then her arm disappeared, sucked away to wherever the things he looked at went.

(Somewhere far away, a man in a mask twitched in disgust as half an arm splattered down next to him.)

Kakashi went still as he not-screamed in pain, knees buckling as they turned to jelly under him. He had time to see Kurenai’s shock, the red of her hair contrasted sharply against the paleness of Janou’s face, before his eyes closed against his will.

He was out before he hit the ground.

 

* * *

 

Airi dug her heel into the dirt and scowled at nothing. Ichimaru was chasing butterflies in the field behind the meeting point, and Akane and Ryuu were here, but Shikamaru had yet to turn up.

“…You don’t think he forgot, do you?” The Inuzuka finally asked. Akane shrugged and Ryuu grimaced a little bit.

“He better not have,” Akane said lowly.

As if their words had summoned him, Shikamaru came into view, strolling down the road towards them, taking his time. He lifted a single hand towards them in greeting, and Airi sighed in frustration as he did so.

“Ahh, I see you’re all here,” Shikamaru said, looking them over. “Did you do the homework?”

It’d been fairly simple; look over the rules for shogi and memorise them, and review any chakra nature notes that they had. If they didn’t have anything, he’d asked them to ask their parents about it.

Airi had spent most of yesterday getting beaten at shogi by her mum, while she quizzed her daughter on not only elemental, but also shape transformation. It had given Airi a headache to stay inside and sit still for so long while also trying to play shogi and think through what her mother had asked her.

When Tanaka had asked if Shikamaru-san had given them a test for their chakra nature, Airi had nodded and told her about Akane, Ryuu and her own chakra nature. Tanaka had gone quiet while they played, and Airi had just started to fidget when she’d said she hadn’t really expected anything else.

“Did dad have lightning chakra then?” She’d asked, not expecting the flash of emotion that went across her mother’s face.

“Yes,” Tanaka had replied after a second. “He did.”

She hadn’t given Airi any more chances to ask about her father, making her questions more difficult as time went on. It’d been hard to sit through it all, but if Shikamaru asked anything about chakra nature, she was pretty sure she’d be able to answer it.

“Yeah, we all did it,” Akane said, crossing her arms. “Why’d we have to?”

Shikamaru looked at her from half lidded eyes. “Well, you really wouldn’t be prepared for today if you didn’t.” He lifted a small rectangular box her was holding and opened it to reveal a portable shogi set. “Akane-chan, Ryuu-kun, can you set this up and start playing each other, please? Airi-chan, we’re going to work on some stuff. When we’re done, you can swap with either of your teammates, and when they’re done, they can swap with the other. Got it?”

The genin nodded, and Shikamaru gave the box to Ryuu before walking out towards the meadow.

Shikamaru sat down under one of the few trees that were scattered about, and Airi hesitantly sat down opposite him. Ichimaru came out of the long grass to sit, panting, beside Airi.

“So,” Shikamaru started. “I’m going to be blunt with you. Airi-chan, you likely possess the capability to mould more chakra than both of your teammates. You’re going to be the heavy hitter; going in with long and short range ninjutsu and finishing with taijutsu. That, of course, means that you’re going to have to work on two different areas, which means you’re going to have to work twice as hard. I’ve got something that I think Kurenai-sensei will agree with worked out for each of you, but it means that you’ll all have an area you specialise in, and a supporting area. Got it?”

Airi hesitantly nodded. “Okay, so I’ll be tai and ninjutsu. Akane will be nin and… genjutsu? And Ryuu will be genjutsu and taijutsu?” For the past week and a half, Shikamaru had been building the basics with them. They’d climbed trees with their feet, and then had gotten thoroughly wet as they tried to learn to walk on water. Shikamaru had taken them through exploding tags, senbon, and some basic tracking – more for the other two than her – all the while, assigning them long, dusty, boring books to read. He then quizzed them on what they’d read while they did more practical things. This was the first time he’d talked about an overall goal, however, and Airi was thirsty to hear about it.

Shikamaru looked at her for a long moment. “Sort of. You all need to know how to fight in close quarters if you need to, but only you will be deliberately engaging the enemy in that way. Akane’s clan jutsu can be completely devastating if she uses it right, but it will take her years to reach that level of proficiency. Until she does, you will help her cover the ninjutsu spot on the team, as well as the taijutsu. Ryuu will be genjutsu, but I’m also waiting to see if his chakra control is good enough to become a med-nin. If so, when you all come of age, and this works out how I hope it will, you three are not a team I’d like to face off against.”

Airi turned it over in her head for a few moments. What Shikamaru said was a good plan… Better than anything that Airi had been thinking about. She flicked her eyes to him as she thought of Shikaru’s insistence that her apparently lazy cousin was one of the brightest Nara in generations.

“Alright,” Airi told him. “But I’m still not sure why you think I have such a large chakra pool. Akane’s clan is pretty old and influential.”

“Sure, the Shizen Clan have their own kekkei genkai,” Shikamaru said. “But you’ve still got more chakra. Trust me on this.”

Airi frowned, but decided that she would ask more later. Shikamaru didn’t look like he was going to tell her anything if she asked anything now. She’d get him to trust her more before she asked again.

“Okay,” Airi said. “So what now?”

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes before he shrugged. “I want you to follow this training regime every morning, alright? We don’t usually meet up until nine or so, so you should have plenty of time to do all of this if you get up early.” Shikamaru passed her a scroll, and Airi resisted the urge to look at it, tucking it into a pocket instead.

“So that’s outside of here training,” Airi said. “What about now? Nature manipulation from now on?”

Shikamaru sighed. “Yeah. Nature manipulation isn’t easy and it takes a lot of time, which is why I want to get you started on it now. I asked one of my friends to come by to help out, and she should be here soon. She’ll be able to see if you manage to convert any chakra into electricity, no matter how small it is.”

“…I asked around at home,” Airi said, shifting her weight. “But I couldn’t find anyone else who is lightning nature, so I couldn’t ask anyone for tips. My mum said that my dad had a strong lightning nature, so it would be expected that I would as well.”

“Did she?” Shikamaru asked, and Airi frowned a little at the spark that that appeared in his eyes. “Interesting. I told you that no other Inuzuka were likely to have it. How many dogs like thunderstorms?”

Airi grimaced a little; he was right. If there was one thing that most dogs hated, it was thunderstorms.

“I was just looking for anyone who might be able to give me some tips,” she explained. “Do you know anyone I can ask?”

Shikamaru looked at her silently for a long few seconds. “Kakashi-sensei is the best known lightning type ninja in the village, but it would be unlikely that he would agree to answer any questions that you –”

“You mean that ninja that Iruka-sensei’s dating?” Airi asked, frowning a little.

Shikamaru blinked slowly. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He rubbed his forehead as he sighed. “Troublesome. Now I’m going to have to pretend that I don’t know that.”

Airi frowned at him. “Well, I’ll just ask Iruka-sensei if I can ask him anything, and the next time I see them together, I’ll go and talk to them. Iruka-sensei would _make_ him answer my questions. You know, for my education and everything.”

Shikamaru was staring towards the village. “Well, you do that then. I’m just going to get you started on the first exercise that all lightning users have to go through.”

Airi sucked in a breath and then nodded, trying to stop a grin coming over her face. This was _real_ ninjutsu! Not the boring henge or bunshin!

Shikamaru was still looking over her shoulder, and Airi glanced back when she smelled another scent on the breeze. Coming towards them was a slender woman with purple hair, a Konoha headband around her neck.

“Hinata!” Shikamaru called out in greeting. “Thanks for coming.”

“It’s no problem,” the woman answered, voice quieter than Airi expected. “I just really wanted to see you training a genin team. Ino and Chouji won’t stop talking about it.”

Shikamaru scowled. “What, they don’t think I can teach?”

“I think they’re entertained by the fact that you were _made_ to teach, Shikamaru.” She sounded amused as she sat down next to them. This close, Airi could see that her eyes had no pupils; she must be a Hyuuga.

“I was just about to tell her the exercise,” Shikamaru told her. “You’re just in time.”

“Yeah, thanks for helping out!” Airi said, grinning. Ichimaru barked her thanks beside Airi.

Hinata looked them both over. “Ahh, an Inuzuka? You know, Kiba was on my genin team, and our jounin-sensei was Kurenai-sensei.”

“Really?” Airi asked, interested. “What’s she like?”

Hinata smiled softly. “Kurenai-sensei is amazing. You’ll get to know that as soon as you meet her.”

“Airi-chan,” Shikamaru said. “I’m going to walk you through the first step, and Hinata is going to watch to see if you’re making any lightning chakra at all. If you can manage that, then you’ll need to practise by yourself, alright? This takes a lot of time, so be prepared to get invested.”

Airi nodded once, and Ichimaru barked to show that they were ready.

Shikamaru leaned back against the trunk of the tree as he began to talk. “Alright. Lightning nature chakra transformation. It’s not like the other natures; you can’t really see electricity, like earth or water, until it’s already in existence. You’ve got the hardest nature to manipulate, but it’ll be worth it for the effects. Lightning can be used to paralyse, as well as destroy the inner nervous system of an enemy, and that’s often far worse than any physical wound you could deal them. It’s similar to the Hyuuga’s gentle fist style in that regard,” he said, flicking his eyes over to Hinata, who smiled gently.

“There are a few steps to this training; first, you have to convert any amount of chakra into lightning. That’s probably the hard part. Then, you have to sustain the lightning, and make it a lot bigger. Finally, you can start utilising lightning attacks and techniques. That’s when you can use it in battle.”

Airi nodded. “I think I get it. First, get some lightning. Then make it big. Then learn some hand seals, and you’ve got lightning jutsu!”

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at her. “Well it’s not that simple… but yes, I suppose that overall it’s like that. The first step, creating electricity, might seem easy, but is certainly not. Your chakra has the natural inclination to form electricity, so you have that advantage. You know how sometimes, when you touch something metal, you might receive a small shock?” At Airi’s hesitant nod, Shikamaru continued. “That’s what you want to do at first.”

She scowled. “I already know how to do that! You just wear some socks, rub them on the carpet, and then touch someone!”

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. “Well it’s good that you know what it feels like. Now, you just have to do it with chakra alone.”

Airi paused at that. Shikamaru quirked a smile at her.

“The Ram seal is often one that is incorporated into lightning jutsu… use that to focus your chakra at first. Then try and make your chakra…” He grimaced. “I asked Asuma-sensei, and the best explanation he could give was ‘make it jump.’ He’d know more than me about it, so I recommend you try to follow that. When you think you’re done, touch my hand, and Hinata will see if there’s any chakra transfer.”

Shikamaru held out his hand, palm up. Hinata made a quick seal, and the veins around her eyes became visible.

Airi took a breath in and formed the Ram seal, pressing her index and middle fingers on both hands together. She closed her eyes, trying to feel her chakra as it ran through her body. She thought that she’d always been a little better at this than others in her class; maybe it was because she supposedly had more chakra than them.

_Jump. Make it jump_ , she thought to herself. She picked a bit of chakra at random, and _willed_ it to move, jump, transform, or whatever it was supposed to be doing.

And it did.

Airi gasped a little as she reached out blindly to find Shikamaru’s hand, startling herself as she felt the spark of electricity connect them before they actually touched.

Airi opened her eyes to find Shikamaru rubbing his hand, a resigned expression on his face. “Well, I think we can call that a success,” he eventually said. Hinata nodded; she’d deactivated her Byakugan.

“Was that… it?” Airi asked, voice a little doubtful.

“You must take after your dad more than you know,” Shikamaru told her. “You’ve probably good to go on that, but I want you to practise it until you can change your chakra without using a hand seal, okay? Now go and get one of the others so I can teach them how to change their chakra.”

Airi stood up and made her way back to the others, grinning. “Hey Akane-chan! Go and show them what you’re made of.”

Akane flipped her hair over her shoulder; in the bright sunlight, it almost had a greenish tinge to it. “Okay, but Ryuu-kun is going to kick your ass at shogi.”

Airi settled down where Akane had been sitting a moment before, breathing in her scent before it faded a little.

Ryuu smiled as he reset the board. “You actually know how to play, right?”

Airi nodded, scratching Ichimaru’s ears absently.

 

* * *

 

“What was that about her father?” Hinata asked, voice so soft it was difficult to pick out from the light breeze that ruffled grass in the meadow.

Shikamaru looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Hm. Well, I’m not completely sure about it; it’s only a guess.”

Hinata slowly raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. “Shikamaru, I can’t remember the last time one of your ‘guesses’ was wrong.”

Shikamaru shrugged, put off balance by the Hyuuga’s faith in him. “Ahh, you’re just saying that.” He fell silent as he watched Airi talk to her teammates. “Don’t tell anyone, but I think that she’s Kakashi-sensei’s daughter.”

Hinata turned to look at the young girl piercingly for a long moment. “… She’s younger than she looks, then.”

“She just turned ten a few months ago,” Shikamaru confirmed. “I don’t think that she knows who her father is, though.”

Hinata nodded thoughtfully. “This won’t travel any further than me, Shikamaru,” Hinata said in an assertive voice that he’d only heard from her a few times before. “I wouldn’t want to endanger her unnecessarily.”

Shikamaru nodded, and then grinned. “That’s nothing on the other piece of information she gave me though…”

To her credit, Hinata managed to avoid any loud exclamations and she didn’t faint when he told her about Kakashi and Iruka.

 

* * *

 

_Zap._

Airi scowled and let her chakra even itself out before trying again, this time without hand seals.

Her chakra didn’t do anything.

Ugh! Why did you even need hand seals to do any jutsu anyways? What did folding your hands into weird positions do to help focus chakra?

Apparently something vital, because she wasn’t getting anything done without it.

“You still going at that?” Akane asked from where she was sitting next to Airi.

“Shikamaru-san told us to practise,” Airi said stubbornly, folding her hands into the seal again.

Ryuu picked up a dumpling from his plate. “I still can’t believe both of you managed to make yours work! Mine didn’t do anything.”

“Hyuuga-san said that you had started,” Akane reminded him. Ichimaru barked quietly from Airi’s lap. They’d only been let into the café because she’d promised that Ichimaru’s feet wouldn’t touch the floor, which was ridiculous. Airi scowled just thinking about it.

“Yeah, but Airi-chan can zap people when she wants to! And you can control plants!” Ryuu sighed.

“Don’t worry Ryuu-kun,” Airi said, spinning one chopstick around in her fingers, not letting herself drop it. “When Kurenai-sensei gets here, she’s going to teach you some sweet genjutsu, and then it’ll be Akane-chan’s and my turn to be jealous.”

Ryuu looked mollified at that. Akane looked at Airi out of the corner of her eye. “I still can’t believe that you managed to get it on your first try. Are you _sure_ that you haven’t done this already?”

“Yes!” Airi snapped at the older girl. Akane sniffed and turned her head away from her, like she didn’t even matter. Airi grit her teeth and just reminded herself that Akane was just jealous; from what she’d gleaned over the course of the afternoon, Akane had spent years to get to where she was in manipulating her own jutsu, and Airi had done near the same thing with one element in one afternoon.

It made her glow with pride.

They were sitting in a café that Ryuu said that Kurenai-sensei took them to after they’d trained together, and Airi wouldn’t have minded it, if they hadn’t been so mean to Ichimaru and her.

She calmed her chakra and tried to focus on it like she did when she made a hand seal. She imagined holding her hands in the way that she did, without actually doing it. She willed her chakra to _jump,_ to move so fast that it turned into electricity.

Nothing happened.

She still tapped Akane’s arm in a hope that she’d shock the other girl anyway. Akane turned her head to scowl at her and Airi made herself catch a growl in her throat.

She was just lifting her hands to try again when she saw a familiar figure walking down the street.

“Hey guys, wait here,” she said, and ducked out, shoving Ichimaru onto her head. The puppy whined, but she’d seen who Airi was going after as well, and was just as happy to leave Akane to her own devices.

“Iruka-sensei!” She called, hurrying through the late afternoon crowd. “Iruka-sensei!”

Iruka frowned and stopped, turning to see who it was. He smiled when he spotted Airi and Ichimaru hurrying towards him.

“Airi-chan, Ichimaru-chan, how are you?”

Ichimaru barked happily and Airi grinned for half a second. “Yeah, pretty good sensei! Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Iruka said, putting a hand on her shoulder and walking them to the side of the road where it was a little less busy and a lot less noisy. “What is it?”

Iruka heard out her explanation of Shikamaru and what they’d asked them to do. “He has you on elemental chakra already?” Iruka asked, brow furrowing. “That’s usually only taught after very good chakra control had been reached.”

Airi shrugged. “Well, Ryuu-kun has been practising his genjutsu with Kurenai-sensei for a while now, so Shikamaru-san said that he should be alright to start. Akane-chan has already started, so he said he could give on tips on normal, not clan jutsu, and he just said that he thought I’d be able to do it, easy!”

Iruka tilted his head. “And you wanted to ask me for some tips so you can start?”

“No,” Airi corrected, quickly putting her hands in the Ram seal and then reaching forward so that she could zap Iruka. “I can already do the first part!”

Iruka blinked, and if Airi guessed right, he looked surprised. “Well, that’s good, Airi-chan. I’m impressed.”

Airi grinned. “I think it’s pretty cool. Shikamaru said now I have to zap people without the Ram seal though, which is hard. I haven’t been able to do that yet.” Iruka frowned and opened his mouth, about to say something, but she kept going, not wanting him to interrupt her request. “But Shikamaru-san said that the most well-known lightning user in Konoha is Kakashi-sensei! And you two are like, dating or whatever, so I hopped you’d be able to ask him to give some tips to me? Please?”

Iruka’s eyes had grown wide. “Airi-chan,” he said, voice carefully level. “Who told you that Kakashi-sensei and I were… dating?”

Airi squinted at him, but he seemed to be asking seriously. “Well, we didn’t know for sure,” she admitted. “But Akane-chan and Chouko-chan and Shikaru-chan and I all thought that you were dating from the way that you acted around each other. I didn’t think it was a secret, or I wouldn’t have told Shikamaru-san!”

“You told Shikamaru?” Iruka asked, voice faint.

“And I think he told Hinata-san,” Airi said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Sorry, Iruka-sensei.”

Iruka took a deep breath in. “It’s alright, Airi. But from now on, don’t say anything about who is dating who, no matter who they are, alright? It’s not good to gossip, and it can be dangerous in some situations, alright?”

Airi frowned, looking at her shoes, and Ichimaru whined in worry. “I didn’t… get you into trouble, did I, Iruka-sensei?”

Iruka sighed softly. “No. It was just something that Kakashi and I didn’t want to made public, that’s all.”

“Why?” Airi asked, looking up in time to see a pained expression cross his features. “Ahh… sorry, sensei. Was that another thing I’m not supposed to ask about?”

“It’s generally considered more polite if you don’t, yes,” Iruka told her quietly. “But it’s done now. I’ll tell Kakashi when he gets back, but he’s on a long mission now.”

“What?” Airi said, drawing the word out a little. “First Kurenai-sensei, and now Kakashi-sensei?”

Iruka smiled a little at that. “I think they’re on the same mission. So when Kurenai-sensei comes back, Kakashi-sensei should be around to help with your lightning jutsu, okay?”

“Okay,” Airi said, a little dubiously. She’d wanted help now, but she supposed she would probably be dealing with another problem later, so Kakashi-sensei could help her with that then. “Thanks, Iruka-sensei!”

“It’s no problem,” Iruka told her, ruffling her hair. “I like how your hair’s kept tidy now,” he told her. Airi blushed under the praise, ducking her head to hide her smile. When she looked up, Iruka was smiling a little bit.

“What?” She asked, narrowing her eyes a little bit. She didn’t have something on her face, did she?

“Nothing,” Iruka told her. “You just remind me of someone, that’s all.”

Airi wondered if that was good or bad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing camp nano this month, and have written a whopping 40k for this verse. I almost have the next part finished, but it's kicking my ass pretty hard, so please leave a comment to give me a bit of motivation!


	7. Passion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yellow Iris represents passion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost wrapping up! Thank you to everyone's lovely comments, I really appreciate them, and they do motivate me to post chapters sooner!

The cold buzz of chakra exhaustion was the first thing Kakashi felt. It was as familiar as the weight of his hitai-ate over his face, which was calming. If his forehead protector had been replaced, he was safe. A hospital, probably. 

He ran his tongue over all his teeth, checking to see if any were missing. He’d had two teeth knocked out in one fight in his teens, during a particularly brutal brawl when he was in ANBU. None were missing, thankfully.

There was a soft beeping that was vaguely annoying in the background, but he could ignore it for now. Someone had taken his gloves off. They always seemed to be the first thing they removed when they put him in a hospital bed.

Obito’s eye throbbed with his every heartbeat. He’d never tried to use the Mangekyou Sharingan when he was low on chakra reserves before. It was good experience for the future. He’d been experimenting with it, but he was always careful when he did so. This was the first combat situation he’d used it in.

A soft whisper as fabric moved let Kakashi know he wasn’t alone. He didn’t even want to think about opening Obito’s eye, so he cracked open his right one instead.

Tenzou was the only one who could sit with him and not alarm him subconsciously. Iruka was getting near that point, but Kakashi had been in near death battle after near death battle with his kouhai, and that wasn’t an experience he had gone through, or wanted to go through, with Iruka. He despised the part of himself that still considered the chuunin a threat, but it had saved his life more times than he could count, so he tried not to squish it completely out of existence.

Tenzou’s eyes slid towards him slowly. “Kakashi-senpai,” he murmured lowly.

Kakashi closed his eye again. “What happened,” he asked, struggling not to slur the words. Fuck, he could feel the drugs they’d put him on. He fumbled towards the IV he could feel in his arm, only to feel Tenzou’s hand wrap around his wrist firmly.

“You’ve been unconscious for three days,” Tenzou said quietly. “That line is the reason you weren’t out for longer.”

“Then get the fucking drugs out,” Kakashi said, but the words didn’t sound right, mashed together in parts that he didn’t want them to, and he glimpsed concern rippling across Tenzou’s face before he blacked out again.

 

* * *

 

The next time he came to, there was someone touching him.

Kakashi jerked, hands going out to defend against his attacker. One grabbed something off the table next to him (long, cylindrical, _pencil_ ) and one wrapped around a throat so that he could strangle or yank forward to stab with the pencil as need be. He heard a yelp as he threw himself onto the person, straddling them as he raised his arm high enough to get the leverage to stab them in the throat –

Someone grabbed his arm, and he upgraded the threat to _two._ Tenzou’s chakra burst into the room, and Kakashi felt the relieved tick of _support,_ before wood wrapped around him, immobilising him as he was about to bring the pencil down to stab.

Kakashi shook his head, realised that Obito’s eye was _burning_ painfully, closed it, then opened his other one, blinking a few more times to focus.

Sakura was under him, fear in her expression for half a second until she managed to smooth it away. Kurenai was holding the wrist that was gripping the pencil. Kakashi took a steadying breath and then nodded at Tenzou.

Tenzou released his jutsu and the wood pulled itself back into the floor. Kakashi jumped to the other side of the bed and stood with his back to the others, trying to stop the trembling in his hands. The pencil snapped in two in his fist.

There was dead silence in the room for a long second, the only sound Kakashi’s heavy breathing.

“And that is why Kakashi gets an all jounin medical team when he comes in unconscious,” Kurenai said, false cheer in her voice.

“Sorry,” Kakashi whispered lowly, shoulders hunching. _Sakura._ Shit, he almost just killed one of his _students._

“It’s alright, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura said. Kakashi could hear a slight tremble in her voice.

Tenzou moved towards him, his footsteps audible. He didn’t touch him, but the familiar chakra did a lot more to calm him down than anything else could have at the moment.

Kakashi would have done a lot in that moment to be alone with Iruka, so he could collapse in his arms and not have to worry about anything until he wanted to again.

Kurenai helped Sakura up and pulled her out of the room, closing the door behind them. Kakashi’s breathing wasn’t slowing down, and his hands started rubbing themselves together even though he told them to stop it, but they were bloody, (“ _They call him ‘Friend Killer Kakashi,’ how about that? Stay away from that boy, son._ ”) so bloody ( _nine fatalities, three of them from the Leaf, the rest of his team, he killed the other six himself_ ) and _Rin_ and now _–_  

“Kakashi.”

– _Sakura,_ not his fiery little ninja with a heart to match, the peacemaker _oh and how that was familiar, every time he saw them it felt like he was cut a little, and death by a thousand cuts never seemed so close when he saw_ his team _in his_ own _genin_ –

“Kakashi!”

Kakashi flinched and tore his eyes from the tile he’d been staring at, to find Tenzou holding his hands apart. The backs of his hands were bleeding from where he’d scratched the skin away, and Tenzou’s eyes were full of sorrow as they struggled against each other for a long few seconds.

“Breathe. In, out, breathe. In, out, breathe. In, out, breathe. In, out…”

Kakashi listened to Tenzou’s mantra and tried to match his breathing to it, gasping in every second breath. All the tension fell out of him, and he tried to keep himself standing as the adrenaline left him and he realised how exhausted he was. Tenzou grabbed him as he fell, and Kakashi buried his head into Tenzou’s neck, the scent of his kouhai reassuring in the deepest way.

Tenzou didn’t say anything, instead putting a hand on his shoulder as Kakashi forced his body to obey him, taking control over one limb at a time.

“Where are the ninken?” Kakashi rasped.

“They dissipated themselves when everything calmed down,” Tenzou told him, voice clinical. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen Kakashi break down, and he was sure it wasn’t going to be the last. “Do you want me to summon them for you?”

Kakashi hesitated, and Tenzou read his answer in that. The wood user wiped a finger through the blood trailing down Kakashi’s arm ( _and when did that happen? oh, the IV_ ), and Kakashi spoke before he could start the hand seals.

“Just Pakkun.”

Tenzou looked at him and then nodded. When the smoke cleared, the small pug was sitting on the floor between them.

Pakkun took one look at him and something dark flashed in his eyes. Kakashi slid down the wall to hang his head between his knees as his dog rested his head in his lap. The warmth of him was more comforting than Kakashi would admit.

Tenzou sat down on the floor next to him in silence for a while. Kakashi didn’t track the time as he rubbed Pakkun’s ears and didn’t try to keep his eyes open.

“What happened?” Kakashi asked after a long while.

“The Waterfall ninja is still refusing to say anything. She was in intensive care for a while after what… you did to her arm. She’s still alive. Turns out there was a squad of Waterfall ninja that had infiltrated the Grass meeting, with a representative from Waterfall supposedly sponsoring them. Kurenai led the cleaning up of all the political mess, so you’ll be glad to know that you avoided that. Waterfall isn’t saying anything about it at all, which is just as good as a confession. We’re in the main hospital in Grass. Sakura has been making sure that the medics here are looking after you properly, and we’ve all been taking shifts to make sure that you’re not alone and no one tampers with you.”

Kakashi nodded once.

“The daimyo’s been clamouring for action, and the head of the ninja here support him. I think that they’re a hairsbreadth away from declaring war on one another.”

“Shit,” Kakashi muttered, grimacing. “Let me guess. We’ve gotta stop that.”

“Yeah,” Tenzou said. “But you can rest for another day before that happens. You’ve got a good enough excuse. The medics here were surprised that you weren’t dead from chakra exhaustion. I said I’ve seen you worse, and that only seemed to scare them more.” Tenzou didn’t ask about what he’d done, or what had happened to Janou. He was good like that. That, and the fact that Kakashi would end up telling him anyway, eventually.

“Where are my gloves?” Kakashi asked, after another few minutes had passed.

Tenzou reached towards his weapons pouch, not reacting when Kakashi tensed, and pulled out his gloves. Kakashi took them from him and tugged them on tiredly, hiding the new scratches and the old scars on the back of his hands.

Tenzou didn’t offer any judgement; he never did.

Kakashi let his head fall back against the wall with a soft _thunk_ and thought about the mess he was going to have to clean up while he stroked Pakkun’s ears.

 

* * *

 

Iruka shuffled the last few papers on the desk. The night was deep, and he was the last one in the Mission Room, clearing out the last of the paperwork. As always, a singular ANBU stood guard in the corner, a contingency in case someone tried to break in or he himself tried to alter anything. Today it was the one in the Boar mask. His chakra was smooth and mellow, unlike most ANBU, who were mostly edges and sharp jumpiness.

Iruka felt that most of the ANBU saw guarding the mission’s room as a boring but necessary task that had to be done, but Boar seemed to take a personal interest in him. Iruka had only really started to notice it after Cat and Boar had come into their apartment to take the not-ANBU after they’d attacked. Ever since then, Boar watched him. He tried to tell himself that it was ridiculous, that he was being paranoid, but he was more certain than ever each time they interacted that he wasn’t imagining things. He’d tell Kakashi when he got back, and maybe he’d be able to work some ANBU stuff to get Boar to back off.

He stapled the last few sheets of paper and put them into their pigeon hole, quickly tidying the last of his equipment away. He sealed the records with a swift hand seal and gathered his things, heading for the door.

The ANBU flittered out of the shadow on the outside of the door, next to Iruka. Iruka locked the door and fed his chakra into the wards that he had set up himself around the complex. They were of a lower level than the ones that he’d had around his old apartment, set only to ring an alarm that Tsunade carried on her if any of the doors or windows were breached without a key and the chakra signatures that Iruka had keyed to the wards themselves.

When he looked over, Boar was gone. Iruka tried not to shiver as he turned his back on the Mission’s Room and headed down the street towards his new apartment.

Kakashi had been gone for seven weeks. There had been news from Grass that Shizune had passed on to him. Shizune had been asking for his help more and more often lately, but it wasn’t until she’d told him that a Hokage needed someone they could trust completely to handle the copious amounts of paperwork that came along with the role that he understood. Just like Kakashi, he was getting some work experience in. He didn’t mind it, most of the time – Shizune was quickly becoming a friend, not an acquaintance. 

It was strange sometimes, to think of Kakashi as being the next Hokage. He couldn’t picture anyone other than Tsunade in the chair behind the desk in the future, let alone the man he wouldn’t be surprised to see sleeping on the floor in his lounge room because he couldn’t be bothered enough to move to the bedroom. The two images didn’t connect well in his mind. He didn’t doubt that Kakashi could do it, of course; but the reaction that Kakashi had given when Tsunade had confronted him about it was pretty much about what Iruka expected from him. Kakashi was not the type of person to desire the very _public_ role of Hokage.

The amount of forms that needed to be filled out every day was staggering to even him, let alone the detailed mission reports that Iruka had glimpsed of the A and S Rank missions. How Tsunade had the time to read all of them he wasn’t sure, but he was getting a better glimpse of why the older woman drank and was always so tired. Iruka thought that taking care of his kids tired him out, but he was certain that if he had to sit through that amount of paperwork every day, he would also be tired and would want alcohol. Often.

The complexity of some of them surprised him as well; there seemed to be half a dozen ways that a different wording in one part of the forms could be interpreted differently. Even thinking about it now was giving him a headache. He shook his head and turned down the street that his new apartment was on. He’d picked something a little closer to the Hokage Tower than before, guessing that he might appreciate that in the future. It was further away from the Academy, but on most days, Iruka thought that that was a good thing. The further his kids had to travel before trying to break into his flat on some kind of dare, the better.

He’d found something a little bigger than he would have done if he were just living by himself, and that combined with the proximity to the Hokage Tower meant that he paid a lot more than he had been doing for his last apartment. But this one had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, so Iruka felt prepared for anyone who might need to come over. Iruka hoped that Kakashi liked it; Iruka did.

He was still constructing the wards around the apartment, the chakra lines delicate and fragile. He hadn’t put any real power into them yet, still weaving the chakra tightly with the seals he was inking on the walls. It was time consuming, annoying, repetitive work, but he was nearly done. If Kakashi came back before he finished them, then he could integrate his chakra into the wards as well, which would make things easier in the long run.

He missed Kakashi. This wasn’t the first time they’d been apart for a significant amount of time, and Iruka doubted that it would be the last. It was the nature of their profession, and while Iruka lamented it sometimes, he wouldn’t change what they did if he had a choice. He just missed the annoying bastard. It wasn’t the same, waking up without him.

Uuhei was sleeping on the couch when he unlocked the door. Usually one of the ninken stayed with him, and the other slept or patrolled around Konoha. Iruka had gotten to know both Urushi and Uuhei quite well over the last few weeks, both while they were in Konoha and while they were out on missions.

The winter holidays after the majority, or all, of his class had graduated was the only time that Iruka had in the year to stock up on missions. It was all well and good taking D Ranks when he had an afternoon off, but most C Ranked missions went for more than a day or two. And if Tsunade needed his abilities for anything particular, then there was no telling how long some of those missions would go for. The six weeks after the end of school were his time for getting all of the missions that he had to do for the year to remain qualified as a ninja. It was one of the most tiring times of his year, but also one of the times where he was reminded to what most of his colleagues went through daily. For a few weeks after that, he was nicer if he had a shift in the Mission Room.

He’d just come back in yesterday from a week long patrol mission, only to have Izumo turn up on his doorstep and promise good things if Iruka took his shift in the Mission Room the next day.

Of course, taking shifts at the Mission Room counted as missions in and of themselves, otherwise Iruka would have no chance of keeping up with the yearly quota. But the missions he did in the holidays did give him a chance to get out of Konoha for a few weeks, see some countryside and get to know some other ninja that otherwise he’d only have a passing acquaintance with. Iruka was very good at making friends, and he used that ability as best he could while on missions, both on his fellow shinobi and their clients, if they had any. He’d been in the business of making friends for a long time, one of the reasons for that being that when he was a teenager, he’d thought that if he had a lot of friends, people would notice if he was gone. This was both to ease the loneliness in him from the loss of his family, as well as him fearing what would happen if someone decided they wanted his sensing abilities for their own.

Iruka closed the door behind him quietly. He hadn’t been back to the Hatake Compound for nearly a month, but he’d moved into the apartment a week before that. He had, however, been spending time pouring over the scrolls that Kakashi had left behind, piecing together what they meant.

The fact that Kakashi had even thought about bonding, let alone done the research and then presented it to Iruka, showed far more of him than almost any other action Iruka had seen. Kakashi kept himself hidden from the world, and that included Iruka. Most of the time, he had to guess at what the other man was thinking; however, that guessing had become very good over the years as Iruka learnt the tiny differences that showed that Kakashi was feeling or thinking something.

Iruka was sure that there wasn’t anyone he was closer to than Kakashi, but that did that mean that he wanted to live and _die_ with him?

Iruka wasn’t stupid, and he didn’t brush off the deaths that ran rampant through shinobi populations. Only about half of his graduating year was still alive, not even fifteen years after they’d left the Academy. Iruka could probably count on one hand the number of people who were still alive from Kakashi’s graduation year, but they had been in the middle of a war then. A good portion of the fatalities had happened just a few years ago with the Sand invasion. Even though the Leaf had dealt back as good as it had gotten, and the Sand and Leaf were on the best terms now than they had ever been on before, they were still lacking jounin and chuunin to fill the gaps in their ranks. Naruto’s year had all just made it to chuunin in the last chuunin exams, so that tree was beginning to bear fruit, but that still didn’t make up for the countless lives lost.

Iruka sighed softly to himself. There was no point in thinking this over, really. Only time could help the lack of ninja in the village. Until then, they would have to deal with overworked ninja, long missions, and little rest periods.

The only reason he was thinking about it, really, was because he’d been looking over the numbers with Shizune when she’d been talking him through some of the personnel paperwork. Iruka had suggested keeping a graph of the number of active ninja at any one time during the year, and Shizune had brightened and nodded, thinking it would be a good project for him to work on while familiarising himself with the normally sealed and top secret records room.

It had been interesting to do. He’d gotten to sixteen years ago, progressing backwards, and he was starting to see the sudden spikes of devastation that had resulted from the Third Shinobi War. He was only sorting ninja into genin, chuunin and jounin basis so far, not going too in depth, but he wanted to, if he got the time. That would be interesting as well. He wasn’t sure if Tsunade had the time for something that was about fifteen years ago, but perhaps she could use it to gauge how long it would take to revive their fighting force.

He had brought back with him a few sheets of the stats that he’d made earlier in the day; only numbers, nothing specific. He turned his stove on to reheat some leftovers while he pulled them out of his bag, shuffling them and then sorting them into piles so he could plot them on the graph paper he’d brought. This was only his rough draft; when he’d checked that they were all correct, he’d write them up on an actual chart, like the other fifteen years.

He put the food on and then started going through each number, putting them into their own category. He ate while doing that, and then stood up to let Urushi in and Uuhei out, the dogs swapping who was on duty. It was late by the time he finished half the stack of papers, and he reluctantly shelved them; he had another day tomorrow to go through the archives and collect more raw data for him to categorise. The new school year started the week after next as well, and he had yet to look at his class. He’d get a whole new class this year, because his last class completely graduated; Iruka was particularly proud of that. The only other time he’d done it, it had been the year that Naruto had graduated.

Speaking of which, Iruka sat down on the ground and let his hands rest in a seal to focus his chakra. With it, his range expanded slowly. He kept careful control over it, ready to break things off the moment he felt like he was losing too much chakra. He’d been doing this every night since the last time Tsunade had called him up, and he was feeling like he’d been getting a better grip over it. He wouldn’t try it normally, but he knew that Urushi would bite him if he keeled over.

Like always, he used the biting red of Naruto’s chakra as a centre. He expanded until he felt the young ninja, and then practised focusing on him. Naruto was still in the Land of Fire, making a wide loop around the country, but getting ever closer to Konoha. Iruka thought that at the pace they were going, Naruto and Jiraiya would probably end up coming to the Leaf within a month. It was something that Iruka was definitely looking forward to, to see how Naruto had grown, both in height and in his abilities. Iruka still worried over the raging pulse of Nine-Tails chakra that he’d felt about a year and a half ago, but Tsunade had told him that it was just a training exercise gone wrong, and that Naruto was fine. She had seemed surprised that he could feel it, since it’d happened in the near deserted south east region of the Land of Fire, but Iruka had only shrugged. He wasn’t sure how everyone else _hadn’t_ been able to feel it.

Iruka cleaned up and then headed to bed. As well as Naruto, he’d felt Kakashi’s chakra, still travelling ever so slowly back to Konoha.

He smiled as he slipped into sleep.

 

* * *

 

Airi was throwing kunai at a target post when Ryuu charged across the training grounds towards her.

“Airi-chan! Airi-chan! Kurenai-sensei is here!”

Airi turned, and used the excuse to yank her gloves back on. It was snowing, and why she’d thought it would be a good idea to train in the _snow_ she had no idea, but once she’d gotten out here and realised how cold it was, it wasn’t like she was going to leave right away. That would just be giving up.

“Really?” She demanded, when he got closer. “She’s here?”

They’d been without a jounin-sensei for two months now, and while Airi was beginning to appreciate the subtle cleverness of Shikamaru’s training regime, she really, really, _really,_ wanted to start going on missions. Whenever they met up with the other teams that had graduated with them, they were always talking about what they’d been doing, and what had happened on a mission they’d been on. Airi burned to tell her own stories; not to mention, the money that would come with completing them. She was very ready to not depend on her mother for anything she wanted to buy.

Ryuu nodded frantically. “You said you’d be here, so I came here first. Do you know where Akane is?”

Airi pursed her mouth. She’d seen Akane in the markets this morning when she’d been on her way to the training fields, but she hadn’t spoken to the other girl. Even though they were on the same team, they were still on rocky ground. Ryuu tried to play the peacekeeper most of the time, and Airi tried not to aggravate the other girl too much, but Akane made it hard.

“She was in the markets this morning. We could go and ask at her house, maybe?”

Ryuu nodded and Airi set off at a loping pace that she’d established in the laps around Konoha that she ran nearly every morning. The pace ate up ground without tiring her out too much. Ryuu apparently hadn’t mastered it yet, because he was panting hard by the time they made it the part of Konoha where Akane lived, while Airi was only breathing slightly faster than normal. Ichimaru was even less tired than either of them, looking like she’d been strolling casually to keep up. She was starting to grow – when Airi had graduated, Ichimaru had only reached the middle of her shin, even with her ears pricked. Now, she was nearly as tall as Airi’s knee.

Airi knocked on Akane’s door, trying not to bang too loudly, like the other girl had accused her of doing the last time she’d been here. By the way Ryuu winced, she wasn’t sure that she succeeded, but she was fairly certain that it was quieter than last time.

There was noise behind the door, as a muffled voice yelled something. Airi scrunched up her face and tried to feel the chakra of those who were probably only twenty metres away. It was something that Shikamaru had been teaching them recently, and Akane and Ryuu took to it easily, Ryuu in particular. Airi had little ability with it, which Shikamaru said was fine; after all, the point of being on teams was to cover each other’s weaknesses, and if Akane and Ryuu could do it, then she needn’t worry too much. She could sense others if they had strong chakra, like Shikamaru, if they were within a few metres of her, but she was fairly sure that that was because she could smell them more than because she could feel their chakra.

Akane answered the door with a scowl on her face. “What?” She asked, looking between them. Technically, it was their day off; Shikamaru looked after them six out of seven days, claiming that he needed at least one day away from them all. He said that if they wanted they could rest then, to make sure they were recovering fully for the rest of the week, but Airi mostly did training that was repetitive but didn’t really tire her out all that much, like kunai throwing. The only way to get better was through practise, but that wasn’t something that Shikamaru spent time with them on, so she had to do it whenever she could.

“Kurenai-sensei is back,” Ryuu blurted, before Airi could say anything. Ichimaru yipped in agreement.

Akane’s face lit up. “Shira-san, I’m going out!” She yelled, before slamming the door closed behind her and following Ryuu back up the street. “Where is she?”

“I saw her going into the Hokage’s Tower with some other people, so I thought that she was back and reporting on their mission. They were gone for so long! I hope she’ll like this team,” Ryuu said, voice trailing away at the end. “We’ve improved since Shikamaru started training us, haven’t we?”

Airi nodded, and was faintly surprised to see Akane echoing the movement from the other side of Ryuu as they darted along the streets of Konoha. There weren’t many people out, so they didn’t have to turn on the icy streets too much, which was just as well; Airi was certain that if they had too many turns to do, _someone_ would have fallen over, no matter how good they were at keeping their feet.

There was no one standing outside the Hokage Tower, and the three genin shuffled their feet. They’d never been inside before, and would normally have waited outside, but the snow was getting a lot thicker. Airi sucked in a breath and opened the door, not knowing what to expect.

Her teammates followed quickly, the three of them sticking together tightly. The first room was a simple foyer, with hallways branching off in a few different directions, and stairs that led up to the Hokage’s office. There were a few chairs along the side of the room, and a man sitting behind a desk next to the stairs, writing something and not paying attention to them at all.

Hesitantly, they moved over to the chairs at the side of the room. The man still didn’t look up, but Airi could feel his attention on them acutely. She didn’t think that there had been many people coming in and out of the Tower today, since it was so snowy, so they were probably a rarity. Added to the fact that they were three genin with no jounin sensei in sight, and Airi wouldn’t have blamed the man if he’d thought they were up to no good.

They’d been sitting for a few minutes when the door opened again. Airi looked up and grinned as she recognised who it was.

“Iruka-sensei!” She called happily, making her teammates look towards him. Iruka looked torn for a moment, glancing between them and the stairs leading upwards, before he took a few steps towards them. There was a red dog at his heels, who yipped to Ichimaru quietly.

“Airi-chan, Ryuu-kun, Akane-chan. What are you all doing here?”

Akane shrugged. “Apparently Kurenai-sensei is back. We were hoping to see her as soon as we could.”

Iruka smiled. “Ah, yes, that’s right. You three are still not officially a team, are you? Kurenai-sensei is upstairs, going through an important report to the Hokage right now. I’m not sure when she’ll be down, so be prepared to wait a while.”

Ryuu deflated next to her, and Airi tried to not let her disappointment show on her face.

“Alright, Iruka-sensei,” Akane said quietly. “It’s fine. We’ll wait for as long as we need to.”

“I’ll go and tell her that you’re here,” Iruka offered. Airi brightened, and if Iruka’s pleased expression was anything to go by, the others had as well.

“Thanks, Iruka-sensei!” Ryuu said cheerfully. “It probably won’t be that long anyways.”

Iruka lifted an eyebrow, and Airi wondered if he was going to regret those words.

 

* * *

 

Iruka wasn’t even a fidgety genin, and he regretted those words.

He’d forced himself to go into the Academy and sort out everything he would need for his new class, which started the day after tomorrow, even though he could almost _taste_ Kakashi’s chakra, it was that close to Konoha’s walls. He’d sorted paperwork as Kakashi had lingered at the gate, probably going through some sort of appreciative ritual to the people who had been travelling with him for several days. He’d steeled himself and finished the sorting of his class and reading of the profiles of his new students as Kakashi, Kurenai, Tenzou, and a chakra that felt very familiar made their way towards the Hokage’s Tower.

He didn’t, however, stop to drink tea with Shizume when he was done all of his work. He didn’t _run_ specifically, towards the Tower, but he may have power walked a bit. Or a lot.

Only to find three of his former students in the foyer, where usually only civilians waited. Iruka didn’t have the heart to tell them that though, and if they were waiting for Kurenai, it was probably the best place for them. He could feel her chakra above them with Kakashi and Tsunade, so he told them to wait, and that he would inform Kurenai that her new students were downstairs, waiting for her.

Only to be blocked by the two ANBU that were standing guard outside of Tsunade’s door. He recognised Boar, but the other one was new to him. He didn’t want to antagonise Boar, so he didn’t push the issue, even as it stung as he realised how much he’d grown _used_ to being let into Tsunade’s office whenever he wanted over the last few weeks.

He was fairly sure that Kurenai, at least, would have sensed him (Kakashi’s chakra sensing was fairly spot and go, but mostly go), so hopefully she would tell him he had been there when they were leaving. Unable to do anything else, he headed for the secure archives to start on his next batch of data. He had decided to stop at thirty years, fairly sure that anything from before that wouldn’t be very useful to Tsunade, as well as the fact that his spare time was about to be swallowed up by Academy life. He just had to plot a few more graphs and draw up several nicely, and he would be finished. He was fairly proud to have done the work, hoping that Tsunade might find it useful for projected outcomes of shinobi numbers, as well as having his own contribution to the secure archives; the data that he’d collected wasn’t something to show about.

The wait was long, and Iruka couldn’t bring himself to focus completely on his work. Uuhei had dozed off at his feet under the desk, likely used to the long time that Kakashi spent debriefing. He finally gave up on doing anything productive and focused on the chakra in the room a few doors away, letting himself feel it. Kakashi’s was bright and unused, so he hadn’t been in any life threatening battles recently. Kurenai’s was strained, and Tenzou’s seemed shallower than normal, but Iruka couldn’t really tell; he didn’t have much of a gauge for the man. He finally recognised the fourth chakra; it had changed since Sakura had been in his class. Now, it had the tell-tale green tinge of a med-nin.

Three hours after he arrived, two members of the squad turned to leave Tsunade’s office. Iruka had already put away most of the scrolls, but he hurriedly shoved others in his bag, and only just remembered to lock the door after him with a pulse of chakra.

He caught up to Kakashi and Kurenai on the stairs; Sakura had left an hour ago, and Tenzou had stayed in Tsunade’s office. Kakashi halted when Iruka came into sight, and turned to face him as he came down the steps.

“Iruka,” he said, and Iruka could hear a lot in the undercurrent of his voice. He looked at Uuhei, who was at the top of the stairs, and waved his hand. Iruka heard the _pop_ as she disappeared as he stepped down to Kakashi’s level. Kakashi casually grabbed at his wrist and looked away from him, face bored, as he slipped his hand into Iruka’s. Iruka took a breath in and felt a weight lift from his shoulders that he hadn’t known had been there. Kurenai looked on with a fond expression.

Iruka didn’t take his eyes off Kakashi as he spoke. “I assume that Tsunade-sama told you about your genin team, Kurenai-sensei?”

Kurenai nodded. “I was going to go and find them tomorrow – I’m way too tired to deal with them now.”

Iruka felt himself smiling a little. “Well, they’re not too tired for you. They’ve been sitting in the foyer downstairs for about three hours. Good luck.”

Kurenai sighed. Kakashi lifted his eye to meet Iruka’s, fingers tight. Iruka stepped down a step so they were on the same level and resisted the urge to touch any more than they already were.

“Great,” Kurenai said, but Iruka wasn’t paying a lot of attention to her, which he was sure that she knew. “Well, I’m never one to step down from a challenge, so I’m going to go and deal with them now and leave you two to catch up.”

She left, her steps quiet on the staircase.

“I brought an apartment,” Iruka said in a soft tone. “I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but it’s done. I haven’t finished putting up the wards yet; I’ve been waiting so we could finish it together.”

Kakashi blinked and then swallowed. “Show it to me?”

“Of course,” Iruka told him. Kakashi let go of his hand and wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him in close while the other formed a seal. Iruka held on tightly as Kakashi shunshin’d them outside the Tower.

“Good, but you went the wrong way,” Iruka told him, beginning to smile. Kakashi hadn’t taken his eye off him yet, and there wasn’t the coiled tightness in him that there usually was when he came back from a mission, so there mustn’t have been much fighting.

Iruka pulled away and began leading him down the icy street. It was still snowing heavily, and the snow that had melted earlier in the day had frozen again, coating the streets in a layer of ice. It would have been dangerous, if both of them didn’t know how to stick themselves to the ground firmly with their chakra.

Iruka stopped outside the apartment building, watching as Kakashi looked it over. It wasn’t tall, and only had two apartments every layer, which meant that he had few neighbours in the same building as him. It was a short walk to the Tower and the Mission Room, and Iruka liked it. He really wanted Kakashi to like it as well.

“It’s a good location,” Kakashi said, starting for the door. Iruka let them in, and up the two flights of stairs to his apartment. It was the second from the top, which again, Kakashi nodded his head to.

Iruka unlocked the door, feeling the unfinished wisps of chakra from the wards brush against his skin. Kakashi followed, ducking under the invisible strands.

His apartment was still a work in progress, furniture wise. He’d brought some of the essentials from his old apartment, but he’d donated most of it and dumped the stuff that had been destroyed in the fight. There were books piled everywhere with no bookshelves to contain them. Other boxes served as creative tables and were piled everywhere he’d been able to put them. He’d enlisted Anko to help him move some of the heavier things in return for a free meal. She’d agreed happily, and that was the only reason Iruka had a bed to sleep in.

Kakashi prowled around the apartment while Iruka put the kettle on to boil. He was acutely aware of how his partner looked through every room, staring at things before coming back to the kitchen, where Iruka was pouring tea.

“Can we finish the wards now?” Kakashi asked him. Iruka could still see snow from where it hadn’t melted in his hair yet, that’s how cold it was inside.

“They’re basically finished,” Iruka told him, heading for the door. He locked it, and then put a hand over the centre, making sure the strands for the ward were still in place. He’d already created all of the rope, but he had yet to tie it in a knot to protect the space; or at least, that was the analogy that he thought fit best. Finding everything in place, he fed a little chakra into it, waking up every strand, feeling the purpose in the ward. The latent seals on the door curled into life, the complicated kanji spiralling off the wood and twisting into patterns on the walls around them.

Kakashi took his hand, this time without his glove on. “What do you need me to do?”

“Just let me take your chakra,” Iruka said. “It’ll feel a bit weird, but it’ll mean you can key people to the ward as well; I won’t have to do everyone who wants to come in.”

“Alright,” Kakashi said mildly. Iruka took a breath and then really _focused_ on Kakashi’s hand, feeling how the chakra ran and flowed through him. He moved his hand a little and matched up where their chakra pooled, then reached out to grab at his gingerly. Kakashi’s one visible eye went wide when he did, but he didn’t say anything, letting Iruka concentrate.

Iruka tugged on his chakra, feeling it spark and twist as he acted as a path for it, pulling it from Kakashi and putting it into the seal on the ward. His carefully constructed threads of chakra began to fuse, coming together to form something greater together than they were apart.

Iruka danced between the chakra; this was where he belonged, moving between fine chakra and building, creating, making things so very easily. He pushed at his own blue chakra and Kakashi’s blazing white chakra, twisting them together to see what they would do, finding ways that would mean they would work together most efficiently.

Iruka let his hand slip off the door and the ward snapped into place, trails of ink spiralling out from the door for a split second before fading away.

Iruka sucked in a breath and staggered as his knees went out from under him. Kakashi caught him before he fell, and Iruka let him support his weight for the few seconds it took to travel to the couch. Kakashi deposited him there and then disappeared for a moment, bringing back a cup of tea. Iruka shook his head; he’d been staring at one point on the couch long enough for Kakashi to locate and make him something. Iruka took the tea gratefully, wrapping his hands around the cup to stop them from shaking, welcoming the warmth.

“Well,” Kakashi said after a moment. “That was something.”

Iruka raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s done, now. Thankfully.”

Kakashi didn’t sit down, eye tracing him as if to make sure he was fine. Iruka sipped his tea and watched as Kakashi decided he wasn’t going to keel over in the next few minutes, and went back to the door. Iruka hadn’t gotten around to installing hooks for gear yet, but there was a small table near the door, which Kakashi unloaded most of his things on. Iruka let his head fall back on the couch and felt his eyes close, sudden tiredness from the rapid chakra usage overtaking him.

He woke up when Kakashi took the now cold cup of tea out of his hands. He’d lost his hitai-ate and flak vest sometime in the interim Iruka had been sleeping, and now just wore the basics of his uniform. Iruka didn’t move as Kakashi turned all the lights off and put Iruka’s cup in the sink.

“Are you alright?” Iruka asked, voice loud in the quiet of their apartment.

Kakashi didn’t answer, which was more than enough of an answer by itself. Iruka reluctantly pulled himself to his feet and began moving towards the bedroom, shedding layers as he did so. Kakashi stalked after him, completely silent as always. Iruka stopped outside the one bedroom he’d set up and waited until he caught up. Iruka caught both of his hands and stroked his thumbs over the back of them, feeling old scars and new ones. Kakashi’s face tightened, but he didn’t try to take his hands away.

“As much as ever,” Kakashi said after they’d been standing there in silence for a few seconds. “You know how it is.”

Truly, Iruka _didn’t_ know how it was, and he didn’t really want to. Both of them knew that, and Kakashi accepted that Iruka probably would never know what it was like to do what he made himself do. Iruka accepted that he would probably never completely understand what was going through Kakashi’s head most of the time.

“But you’re _alright_ ,” Iruka asked again, stressing the word. Kakashi ducked his head, the starkness of the scar bisecting his eye standing out in the shadows of the night.

“Yeah,” Kakashi murmured. “It was alright, this time.”

Iruka closed his eyes and leaned against Kakashi’s chest, tension that had been building up in his chest dissipating. _He was fine._

“Okay,” Iruka said, as Kakashi’s arms settled around him. “Okay.”

 

* * *

 

Kakashi watched as Iruka settled himself into their bed, shoulders still tense. Kakashi had tried to reassure him, but obviously words alone weren’t working.

He found the bathroom and proceeded to strip slowly, forcing his hands to be clinical about it. He didn’t look in the mirror that was hung on the wall, turning away with his eye fixed deliberately past it.

His hair fell forward into his face as he put it under the water. He normally kept it out of his face with a little bit of lightning chakra, but he didn’t really want to risk electrocuting himself. 

There wasn’t the normal drain of red as he washed blood off his skin, which he was thankful for. They’d managed to diffuse the situation in Grass slightly, enough so that Waterfall and Grass were meeting in private and no blood had been shed because of it (or at least none that he’d heard). Kakashi had negotiated a new treaty with Grass that basically gave Grass first rights to what Waterfall was willing to export, and then Fire would be the first to trade with Grass for the materials.

It would boost the price, as Grass would use the opportunity to put a load of taxes on the goods, but it basically meant that all Waterfall produce would be available to Fire and the daimyo without antagonising Waterfall or Grass. He’d then calmed down the feud between the two countries by offering to act as an impartial authority between them for negotiating an agreement. Waterfall hadn’t been in the best position, as they had snuck their own ninja into Grass forces to then kill the majority of Grass diplomats and attacked the Konoha delegation, so they’d come out with a worse deal than Grass had.

Tsunade had praised their efforts and told him that the way he’d handled the situation was most likely the best way it could have played out. She didn’t, however, mention the hundreds of Waterfall civilians that had been killed in a counter attack from Grass before the peace talks had started.

Kakashi felt the blood of those people on him as the water ran over him.

He sighed and shook his head. This was the first proper wash he’d been able to have in a week, the days on the road taking more out of him than a battle would have. His knees still felt strange from standing up instead of sitting on his horse.

He picked up the soap and started scrubbing, being methodical about it so that he wouldn’t start rubbing at any one place in particular. He looked critically at the backs of his hands, but the deep scratches he’d put there over a month ago were faded now, fitting in with the other scars that ran rampant there. He hadn’t gained too many scars from this mission; most of the kunai wounds that Janou had dealt him had healed weeks ago. The only remnant was the ache in his left eye when he thought about what he’d done with it.

The Mangekyou worked in battle. That’s what he’d gained from the experience. Only Kurenai had seen how he’d subdued the Waterfall ninja, and she wouldn’t tell anyone. Now that he had experience with how it felt, he was fairly confident that next time he used it, he’d be able to manage its effects and not collapse in the middle of a fight.

That was the plan, anyway. Perhaps if he took the time to mould the chakra before he opened his eye the shock of it wouldn’t be so bad…

When he got out, he realised that there weren’t any towels yet; Iruka hadn’t been expecting him, of course. He swore under his breath and then twisted his fingers into a few seals to blast dry himself off with an air jutsu he’d copied in Suna when he was in ANBU. It left his hair wilder than normal, and he tried to pat it down a few times before giving up.

He didn’t want to put his clothes back on, but he didn’t want to wander about Iruka’s apartment naked either. However, when he opened the door, there was a pile of clothes just outside; everything from a full uniform to loose sleeping wear. Kakashi tried not to smile as he picked out a few basic pieces of his uniform, leaving most of the clothes where they were.

The door to the bedroom was half closed, so Iruka must have decided to try to get some sleep. Kakashi prowled past it and back out into the open space of the main rooms. He could still feel the chakra humming in the walls. He had not expected Iruka to do that when he said he would set up the wards for both of them; Kakashi was glad that he hadn’t had to use any chakra today, or he probably would have fell over by the end of it.

He put his hand on the door, where Iruka had, feeling the buzz of his own chakra there. It was similar to when he set up a ward, but also different. Underlying and supporting it, he could feel something else… soft steel that was most likely Iruka’s contribution to the creation.

He cracked open Obito’s eye to stare at the ward. As the chakra came to life under the Sharingan, Kakashi huffed a little. Iruka had outdone himself this time; not only did the ward hide chakra signatures, it muffled sound and scent as well. And he could see the deadly intent in how some of the kanji curled. While Iruka’s other ward had been broken and had expired all its energy in one go, Kakashi thought that this one might save some for a second intruder.

Satisfied that the ward was better than anything he could have created, he closed his eye and made his way back to the bedroom. He slipped into the room quietly, putting his unused clothes beside the door and pulling off the regulation pants. Left in a shirt and boxers, he made his way towards Iruka.

Iruka cracked open an eye when Kakashi lifted the covers, but he could tell that Iruka hadn’t truly been asleep, or even trying. Kakashi tugged him closer, and Iruka made himself comfortable in the spaces that Kakashi left.

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair (the strands soft and smooth; a direct opposite to his own, the hair rough and stiff), feeling him gradually relax until he let his hand still.

Iruka moved his head so he could look at him, and Kakashi crooked a small smile at him. It wasn’t _that_ late, and he wasn’t tired really, but Iruka looked worn out and he was more than willing to lie next to him and watch as he slept.

Or didn’t.

Iruka leaned up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth hesitantly, testing the waters. He always started off like that; unsure and a little shaky. Like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed.

Kakashi turned his head so that he could kiss Iruka properly, lips pressing together. Kakashi wondered if Iruka could feel how chapped they were; masks were good for many things, but keeping lips soft was not one of them.

Iruka sighed softly, pressing a little closer to him, fitting into his side sweetly. Kakashi nuzzled at his lips and threaded a hand through his hair, pulling Iruka closer, so that he was looking down at Kakashi from above him. Iruka pressed kisses to his lips and cheeks and nose, smiling when Kakashi tilted his head to give him better access. Kakashi let Iruka settle himself above him slowly, to then lean down again. Kakashi resisted the urge to throw him off (it was just _Iruka_ ), and kissed him back.

Kakashi still remembered when Minato talked him through this.

_“Your shinobi career is not your whole life,” he’d lectured Kakashi time and again. “You need to spend time as a human as well as a weapon. Trust people. Love people. That’s the only way you’ll survive this lifestyle.”_

Kakashi trusted Iruka. He’d made that decision a _long_ time ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found an amazing pic and changed my AO3 profile to it, so ya'll should comment so I can reply and show it to you :D
> 
> Also, [here's what Ryuu, Akane and Airi look like!](http://trans-kxkashi.tumblr.com/post/163620263827/team-11-from-left-to-right-ryuu-akane-and) Feel free to follow me on tumblr as well, lol.


	8. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue Iris gives hope.

Airi tapped her hands on the side of her head absently, squinting while reading the scroll set out in front of her. Shikamaru had set it as ‘required reading,’ but it was very dull, and Airi wouldn’t have been reading it if she had anything else to do. Akane was staring out the window from the seat across from her, hands going through all the hand seals repetitively, again and again. She didn’t even look like she was paying attention to what her fingers were doing. Ryuu was still trying to light a leaf on fire; recently he’d gotten it to smoulder, if he concentrated on it for a few minutes. The leaf that he was twirling in his fingers still looked very green from where Airi was sitting.

The fourth chair, opposite Ryuu and between Airi and Akane, was conspicuously empty.

Airi heaved another sigh as her eyes moved grudgingly to the next paragraph of the scroll. It would have been interesting enough if the author hadn’t couched the writing in the most boring of all possible terms. It was about how certain types of ninja were more suited to certain types of ambushes, and instead of giving examples and describing the ambushes, it was going on about ‘affinities,’ loci of shuriken arcs, and specifically detailed about every tree in the Land of Fire. Airi wanted to hit something. Where was Kurenai-sensei? She said that she would meet them here, at this café, about an hour ago. Airi knew that she had just gotten back from a long mission and all, but still. That didn’t excuse being _an hour_ late. That was even worse than Shikamaru!

“… This _is_ the right café?” Ryuu asked for the fourth time. Akane rolled her eyes and Airi just hunched over more in her chair.

“Yeah,” Akane answered, for the fourth time. Airi blinked and reread the sentence she’d just skimmed. Not one word of it had stuck in her brain.

“Ah, I see you all made it.”

All three of the genin jumped. Airi turned around to see Kurenai standing behind her chair, smiling softly. She glared at Ichimaru for not warning her, but the puppy was fast asleep on her lap. _So much for you being a nin-dog,_ she thought jadedly at her partner, resisting the urge to facepalm. 

Kurenai moved from where she was standing to sit in the unoccupied seat. “I’m sorry for keeping you all waiting for so long, but the Hokage had some follow up questions about our mission. I’m probably making a bad impression,” she said, a touch of ruefulness in her features. “I haven’t even had time to go through all your files since I’ve gotten back. So, in lieu of that, tell me about yourselves.”

Akane’s hands stilled in their ever persistent folding, but Airi had already beaten her.

“I’m Inuzuka Airi!” She said loudly. A few of the other people in the restaurant turned to look at her outburst, so she quieted her next words. “And this lazy pup here is Ichimaru. When she’s not sleeping, she likes following trails and digging up stuff.” She grinned, and Kurenai smiled in return. “I want to be a ninja so I can protect the village, and because I want to be the Clan Head one day. Although if I have to read more of this, I don’t know if I want to do it anymore,” she said balefully, looking down at the musty scroll in front of her.

Kurenai leaned over to see what she had in front of her. “Oh, you’re already reading Tsunamari? That’s usually only for chuunin who are looking to advance to jounin rank.”

Airi squinted her eyes at the scroll suspiciously. “Shikamaru-san just told me that I had to read it. It’s really boring though. He talks about, like, seventy different types of fir trees!”

Kurenai lifted an eyebrow. “And yet, one of the tactics in that scroll helped me pass my jounin exams. Without it, I don’t think I could have managed.”

As one, the three genin leaned in to stare at the spindly handwriting in front of Airi. “Huh,” Akane said. “I might have to look at it, then.”

“Maybe later,” Kurenai suggested. “What about you two?”

“I’m Shizen Akane, from the Shizen Clan,” Akane said loftily. “And _I’m_ going to be the head of my clan _before_ Airi-chan is even considered as a candidate!”

The tension at the table rose, Airi barely resisting the urge to stand up and punch her. At least those long afternoons with Shikamaru were paying off; a month ago, she didn’t think she would have had the self-control to not hit the other girl. Why was she always trying to antagonise her?

“Hey, guys, calm down,” Ryuu was trying to say. “I’m sure that both of you will make great Clan Heads.”

Akane folded her arms in front of her and Ichimaru shifted, putting her head on the table to growl. Airi smoothed a hand over her ninken’s head and Ichimaru stopped reluctantly.

Kurenai still had a single eyebrow lifted, but apart from that, she looked completely unruffled at the obvious dislike between two of her team members.

“Alright… what about you, Ryuu?”

Ryuu shrugged a little. “I’m Suzuki Ryuu, and I like cats and reading. I don’t like it when my teammates fight!”

Airi could only shrug. Akane was worse than her.

Ryuu deflated. “I really like helping people at the hospital and genjutsu, and I want to become a really good medic nin.”

Kurenai looked interested at that. “Well, I think I’ve got the gist of the team now. I’m Yuuhi Kurenai, your new jounin sensei. I like cooking and plants and I dislike people who don’t look after their teammates. You guys are the second genin team that I’ve taken. They’re all chuunin now, so I’m free to take on a new team.” She smiled at them all. “I hadn’t requested another team, but since your year was so big, Tsunade thought that I would be an appropriate mentor for three new genin. I’m sorry that I was away for so long – I was completing a mission where my presence was essential. I hope that we all get along well together?”

Ryuu nodded insistently, and Akane twitched her head once as an affirmative. Airi just rolled her eyes while Ichimaru barked.

“I was really excited when I heard that you were going to be our jounin-sensei, Kurenai-sensei,” Ryuu beamed. “I got really lucky.”

“I’m glad you think that way,” Kurenai said, a touch of amusement in her voice. “I’ve already put all the paperwork through, and it’s been signed by all the relevant authorities. We’re officially Team 11; now we can go on missions.”

“Yes!” Airi cheered, and Akane even smiled at her a little. “Finally!”

Kurenai watched as all three of them descended into their familiar squabbling. In that moment, Airi felt a touch of expectation; this was going to be _her team_. Genin could be on their team for years, and Airi could feel the dynamic between all five of them already, and it was something that she was definitely looking forward to.

 

* * *

 

“Hey! Kakashi-sensei! Wait a moment!”

Kakashi sighed. It was late, there were hardly any people around, he was headed back to Iruka’s apartment, and he just wanted to get there in peace. Tsunade had called him and Kurenai back to her office to debrief some more on the mission; she wanted some clarification on some of the minor details that Kakashi hadn’t bothered to put in his report. Kurenai had left after a few hours of being grilled, saying something about having to meet up with her new genin team, but Kakashi had been stuck with the Hokage for another two hours before she decided that she knew how the mission had gone even better than he did.

The voice had sounded vaguely familiar however, so it might be a messenger from Tsunade about something that she had forgotten. He was tempted to ignore it anyway, but decided that he didn’t want to be punched through a wall the next time she saw him. Reluctantly, he turned around, to see a young girl racing towards him, a white and black puppy at her heels. He narrowed his eye as he tried to place her, certain that he’d seen her before. She stopped before him, hands on her knees and head hanging as she panted for a few short seconds.

Kakashi’s heart stopped when she looked up and he saw her face.

_Holy fuck_.

She had his father’s eyes.

Kakashi had very few real memories of his father. Sure, he knew the legends, had heard the stories, read about his exploits. But the fact was, Kakashi had been six when his father had killed himself. There were few things that you really remembered before you were eight or so, and as clever as Kakashi regarded himself as, it had been over twenty years since he’d died. That, and since he’d spent years in denial after his death, blocking any thoughts of him, meant that Kakashi remembered little of what Sakumo had been like. He had a photo, creased and worn, given to him by Jiraiya a few years ago, but it had been taken before Kakashi was born, and didn’t look like the man he remembered, blurry as he was in his memory.

Kakashi remembered the warmth of his father’s hand as he escorted him back from the Academy. He remembered meeting Gai for the first time with his father, and he remembered how kind he was. The day when Sakumo had shown him where their family scroll was that contained the summoning contract for his ninken was burned in his memory.

But mostly, Kakashi remembered his eyes. The way they would crinkle when his father chuckled, or how they would look at Kakashi searchingly when Sakumo asked if Kakashi really understood what he was teaching. How wise they were, how kind.

How no one had looked at the girl in front of him and recognised the famous White Fang, he didn’t know. Perhaps, like him, their memory had been dulled by twenty years of his absence. And while she might have had the shape of Sakumo’s eyes, they held none of his compassionate intelligence. Oh no. He’d seen the fiery glare she was shooting at him before, but it’d always been from the opposite side of a mirror.

“Hey! Mister, are you even listening to me?”

For fuck’s sake, she even had his hair. The puppy at her side yipped, and Kakashi realised where he’d seen them before. They had been in Iruka’s last class, but she had graduated, if the hitai-ate around her forehead and the puppy’s neck meant anything.

He reached up to rub at Obito’s eye, which was throbbing painfully, and would likely give him a headache in a minute or two. Obito was probably laughing at him hysterically from the afterlife.

He’d been sitting in a tree reading while she fought that kid with a sword. It’d just been after he’d hurt his legs.

_The Inuzuka girl had just dodged a particularly quick slice of the sword. There was something about her chakra that felt familiar… Perhaps it was just because he could feel the electricity in the air. If he were in charge of the girl’s training, he’d have started her on nature manipulation years ago._

Fuck him sideways. He’d known that he had kids out there, but coming face to face with one that _so obviously_ his was not something that he was expecting. The Inuzuka tattoos on her cheeks were likely the only thing that had stopped someone from making the connection sooner.

That precedent, however, would likely be cut short very quickly if someone with half a brain in their head saw them together. She was still glaring at him, and Kakashi’s heart ached a little to see how familiar the look on her face was.

He turned and started walking, digging his hands in his pockets. The girl made a spluttering noise and then started after him.

“Hey! I _said_ , can you give me some tips on how to use lightning nature chakra! Shikamaru-san said you were the best!”

Oh dear. If she’d spent any amount of time with Shikamaru… Kakashi sighed to himself. The boy was fairly discreet. He shouldn’t have to worry about the information being spread all over Konoha.

He looked over his shoulder at her. “Well, we can’t train in the middle of the street, can we?” He drawled, more to get her to quiet down than anything else. He didn’t want more attention drawn to them than had already been drawn. Hopefully if he could get her out of the sight of anyone nearby quickly enough, they’d forget about the incident.

Her face lit up, and she scampered after him, keeping at his heels as he left the more populated areas of the village. The sun was just beginning to set, and he set himself a strict timer; he wouldn’t stay with her after he couldn’t see the glow of the sun. That was the limit.

He reached training ground three and its familiar posts. He could remember so clearly the expression on Naruto’s face when he’d realised that they were leaving him there to untie himself.

He leaned against the middle pole and for once didn’t feel the compulsion to bring out _Icha Icha_. He watched the girl instead, how she walked with economy of movement, how the dog at her side was in near perfect step with her; how the pup just tripped over her own legs a little. She was in that gangly stage where she would grow very fast over the next few months.

His daughter was grinning widely as she came to a stop in front of Kakashi. “So, what’s the first thing we should do?”

Had he ever been that optimistic? “A name would be nice, since you obviously know mine,” he said, feeling his breath catch. After he knew her name, there would be no going back. He’d be committed.

“Inuzuka Airi,” she said immediately, looking a little abashed. Kakashi ignored how he felt stung by the _Inuzuka_ instead of _Hatake_. He’d given up the opportunity to raise his kids a long time ago, and while it wasn’t something that he regretted, he did realise that it was probably a lost opportunity. Not that he would have been any good at looking after kids, anyway. He couldn’t even deal with genin, let alone anyone who was younger than that. He didn’t even want to consider how he could have fucked up a small child. She was better off without him.

“Hm,” Kakashi hummed, raising an eyebrow. “So you have lightning chakra?”

“Yeah!” She exclaimed, the grin never leaving her face. “Shikamaru-san said that I’ve got really strong lightning chakra. And I can make static electricity easy!”

She folded her hands into the Ram seal and Kakashi felt her chakra spark. He obligingly put out his hand so she could give him a shock, which he sucked into his own chakra network. His chakra ate it up nicely; they were compatible, which was of absolutely no surprise to him.

Airi frowned when he did it, but shrugged it off. “See? Awesome, right?”

“How long did it take you to do that?” Kakashi asked, interested. He’d mastered it pretty much right away once Minato had told him what to do…

“I did it right away!” Airi said, looking smug. “Akane was so mad, because she’d spent years on her water and earth jutsu.”

Ah. She took after him in more than looks, then.

“And Ryuu-kun’s still trying to set his leaf on fire,” Airi continued. “He’s upset that he can’t do anything. He’s been carrying around his leaf for ages, but he’s only managed to get it to smoke so far. At first I didn’t think that having –”

“What did Shikamaru ask you to do next?” Kakashi cut her off, getting back on track. He had the awful feeling that she had the tendency to ramble. At least he’d dodged that in his genin team; people who rambled reminded him of Obito.

Airi pouted; she obviously hadn’t been able to do whatever Shikamaru had asked her. “He said that I should try doing it without the hand seals, but that’s really hard. I haven’t gotten _anywhere_ in that!”

Kakashi blinked. _He_ often couldn’t pull off jutsu without hand seals without an extremely long time to concentrate, so he never tried in the middle of a fight, which was when every wasted second counted. For Shikamaru to ask her to do that…

“Well, maybe continue that in your spare time,” Kakashi told her. “For now, we’re going to move onto something different.”

“Alright!” Airi yelled, pumping her fist in the air. The dog beside her jumped up and barked a few times, which made Airi smile. “You’re totally right, Ichimaru. Let’s kick some ass.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “Okay, but first of all, I need to know how many weapons you keep on you.”

“Weapons?” Airi asked, puzzled. She clearly didn’t see how this was related to what she wanted to learn.

“Yes, weapons,” Kakashi answered, peering at his daughter intently. “How many?” He had to know if she could defend herself. And if she hadn’t specialised yet…

Airi shrugged. “Ichimaru and I are always together, and we’re a weapon in and of ourselves. I’ve got a few kunai and shuriken, more than we have to carry, but not much else. We’re in the village, and Shikamaru-san said that we shouldn’t really focus on a specialised weapon until we’ve finished growing, which is going to be a few years for me.” She sighed a little at the last part.

“You can still learn a weapon when you’re young,” Kakashi said, thinking of his tanto, and later the standard ANBU sword. “But it takes constant practise and readjustment as you’re growing to keep up with it, which is not something that most people can do.” What she had on her was good enough for now, but he should bring a tanto the next time they trained. He winced internally; he was _already_ thinking about a next time?

Airi nodded slowly. “That makes sense, I guess. Hey, do you have any weapons that you can use?”

Were there any weapons he _couldn’t_ use? He wasn’t sure. “I have a few that I can use fairly well,” was all that he said. “Now, do you want to get onto chakra manipulation, or do you want to stand around all day?”

Airi’s answering grin was all the answer he needed.

 

* * *

 

“… so I was like, ‘Akane-chan, what are you doing?’ And Akane got all defensive, and she wouldn’t tell me what. I’m sure that she was up to no good, though. Do you have any idea why she’s always being nasty to me? I try to be nice, but I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to work.”

“Some people are just like that,” Kakashi said, shrugging. “You just have to live with it.”

Airi frowned, obviously not liking that answer. She was leading them through the Inuzuka Compound, and Kakashi could feel the light touch of chakra that meant that there were dogs, and probably ninja, watching as he escorted the young nin home.

“Well, that sucks,” Airi sighed.

“That’s life,” Kakashi told her, and was rewarded with an annoyed huff.

“Why do you keep saying that stuff like that? It doesn’t even make any sense…”

Airi trailed off as she turned off the main path towards a house hidden away in some trees away from the path. Kakashi hesitated, then decided that he had to know who was taking care of Airi. She brushed up against the tree nearest the door, and took in the scents there.

“Mum!” Airi yelled as she raced towards the house. She reached the door just as Kakashi heard a slight creak on the other side. He took a deep breath and braced himself for whatever was about to come; whoever was on the other side likely knew who he was, and was just as likely to never want him near their daughter. Really, he couldn’t blame them. He’d be a terrible father – he just spent the last hour and a half teaching a kid to blow stuff up with her bare hands. Imagine what he could do _actual_ time to influence a child.

The door swung open, and Kakashi found himself facing Inuzuka Tanaka.

He knew her from among the various jounin he had acquainted himself with over the years, from the jounin monthly briefings and from when she took over as Tsume’s backup in the Clan meetings. She had always been pleasant to him, but in the half second he had to think over their encounters, she had always seemed reserved when they had interacted. She must have known that he was one of Airi’s parents.

Tanaka’s smile froze as she spotted him. Airi bounced past her, chattering on about something that Kakashi tuned out. He slouched a little more and looked off to the side, knowing that she would understand that he wasn’t trying to be aggressive. Having people who knew dogs was useful for silent cues.

Tanaka relaxed marginally. As soon as her daughter was out of sight, the smile dropped off her face. A large grey bloodhound appeared silently next to Tanaka, probably reading her partner’s sudden spike of emotions.

“Inuzuka-san,” Kakashi greeted, ducking his head.

“Hatake-san,” Tanaka replied warily. Neither of them moved from their positions.

“… showed me how to make my chakra more powerful, and _then_ we destroyed some trees with chakra! Well, Kakashi-sensei was better at it than me, but I was getting it in the end! Also, can you get the needle so you can dig the splinters out, _please_ mum?”

Airi appeared next to the greyhound, rubbing her ears. The dog didn’t react, eyes fixed on Kakashi, which made Airi narrow her eyes. The girl looked between the two of them, and a touch of wariness entered her eyes. “Mum? Do you know Kakashi-sensei?”

“We’re aquatinted,” Kakashi said before Tanaka could decide on an answer. “Most jounin know all the other jounin from their village, Airi-chan.”

“Oh,” Airi said, but Kakashi had known her for about two hours and he could tell that she didn’t believe him.

Tanaka took a breath and Kakashi saw her compose herself visibly. The stiffness went out of her frame, but the wariness didn’t leave her eyes. She must have been very surprised by Kakashi’s presence, for her to be startled so.

“It’s fine, Airi,” Tanaka said, ruffling her hair. “Can you go and start some dinner please? I was waiting for you to get home.”

Airi pouted, but she turned, pulling the bloodhound with her. “ _Fine_ , but you just want to talk to Kakashi-sensei where I can’t hear. He already promised to teach me again, so don’t try to stop that!” Her voice faded as she made her way further back into the house.

Kakashi took another step backwards as Tanaka stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

“You have no right to be near her,” Tanaka started, voce so low that Kakashi had to strain to hear. “You’ve been absent from her life for ten years, so don’t think –”

“Airi approached me,” Kakashi cut in. “I didn’t know who she was until she was standing in front of me.”

“How did you know –” Tanaka broke off her line of questioning sharply. Kakashi grimaced with her.

“She looks like me, Tanaka-san. The only thing that makes people not recognise her are the tattoos on her cheeks,” he said, pointing at his own cheeks. “And the fact that no one actually knows what I look like.” He hesitated.  “She’s the spitting image of my father. You should be glad that he’s been forgotten in most people’s minds.”

Tanaka had her arms folded in front of her. “I pushed for her to get the tattoos sooner than most do,” she admitted grudgingly. “I could see the resemblance.”

“It will only get worse as she gets older.”

Tanaka bit her lip. “I know.”

They stood in an uneasy silence for a few seconds. From what he knew, Tanaka was a good person and an even better ninja. Her husband had been killed several years ago; Kakashi wondered if he was Airi’s other parent.

“She takes after me,” Kakashi told her, even though he knew that it wasn’t something that she wanted to hear. “She has an innate understanding of how to manipulate lightning chakra. With some work, she’ll have it down in no time. She’ll make chuunin at the next chuunin exams, and jounin will be within her reach quickly.”

“She’s _ten_ ,” Tanaka hissed. “I didn’t want her graduating this quickly, but her heart was set on it. I’ve already talked with Yuuhi-san, and she agrees that Airi needs time to mature before she can even think about taking the exams.”

“I was an active ninja at her age,” Kakashi continued, relentlessly. Every word he said only made Tanaka angrier, but Airi would need someone on her side. At the same time, she would have to face the fact that her daughter was going to be more talented than her sooner rather than later. “She will be as well. I will not hesitate to teach her things that might stop her from dying on the field.”

“Of course not,” Tanaka said, deflating. “Of course I want her to know everything that she can. But I worry.”

“I think that’s something that every parent does,” Kakashi tells her, voice gentler. “But she is going to grow up, fast.”

“She’s already so big,” Tanaka sighed, eyes going distant. Then she looked at Kakashi sharply. “Do… you know if she has any siblings?”

“Most likely,” Kakashi told her, shifting slightly. “But I don’t know who they are. I was told that any of my kids would be told that I was one of their parents when they reached chuunin or fifteen, whichever came first. I would be told at the same time. She’s probably one of the oldest, though.”

Tanaka nodded once. “Alright.” She cast a look over her shoulder. “I… One of my biggest regrets was not being able to give her any littermates. You won’t…”

“I won’t say anything before then,” Kakashi promised lowly, and Tanaka nodded.

“Alright. But you should be the one to tell her, whenever she gets to know. And you should probably tell Yuuhi-san.”

“I was going to talk to Kurenai after I dropped her off,” Kakashi admitted.

Tanaka pursed her lips and looked away. “Okay. Look after her, for me. She’s stubborn, and proud. You’ll have to keep an eye on her.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow as she grimaced. “I can do that.”

Tanaka huffed and then opened her door and went back inside, leaving Kakashi standing in the middle of the Inuzuka Compound after dark.

He turned and headed back towards the gate, trying to ignore the weight of stares on the back of his neck as he did so. Kurenai would probably be at home, so he’d try there first. If she wasn’t perhaps he could ask Asuma, if he was there.

No one answered their door when he knocked, and there weren’t any lights on in the apartment, so they most likely weren’t at home. He went through the places that Kurenai and Asuma liked to eat as he wound his way through some of the busier streets of Konoha. He might not be able to talk to her now, but he would let her know that there was something that they needed to discuss. That way, she couldn’t accuse him of trying to keep this secret.

He didn’t see them, but he did, however, spot Shikamaru with Chouji and Ino. The three of them were walking together, chatting and laughing. Kakashi caught Shikamaru’s eye and then tilted his head.

Shikamaru paused for a second to say something to his two teammates, who both glanced over at Kakashi, before Shikamaru wound his way around the civilians in the street towards him. Kakashi started walking again, keeping an eye out for Kurenai, and waited for the chuunin to catch up to him.

“Kakashi-san,” Shikamaru greeted in his normal drawl. “Is there something you need?”

“Hmm,” Kakashi said. “I’ve been told that you took care of Kurenai’s team while she was away.”

A small spark lit in Shikamaru’s eyes as he nodded. “Yes. I was asked to look after them until she came back. I’m glad that she has, now, because I need more time to focus on organising the chuunin exams.”

“I have an interest in one of the team members,” Kakashi said, voice bored to match Shikamaru’s extremely uninterested expression.

“Which?” Shikamaru asked. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow.

“You know which.”

Shikamaru hesitated before nodding slowly. “I couldn’t help noticing that –”

“It’s fine,” Kakashi said, cutting him off before he said anything. “But you’re now one of five people who know about her. So don’t say anything to anyone, alright?”

Shikamaru nodded sharply. “I can do that. She’s clever. I started her on lightning manipulation.”

“And then told her to change its nature without using hand seals,” Kakashi drawled, and was rewarded with Shikamaru’s usually passive exterior flinching. “ _I_ still have trouble doing that.”

“Well, I thought that it would keep her occupied,” Shikamaru said. “I think that otherwise, she would have quickly gone past anything I knew about lightning chakra.”

Kakashi shrugged one shoulder. “I’ll show it to her. I know most of what you can do with it.”

Shikamaru looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “So you’re going to take over her training then?”

“I’ll let Kurenai train her,” Kakashi told him. “She needs to know how to work in a team. Private tutoring will only be detrimental at this stage. I’ll give her some pointers, but unless she needs more, Kurenai can teach her. She knows what she’s doing.”

Shikamaru nodded his approval. “Okay. Well, I won’t tell anyone. Do you want a report on her abilities?”

“No, I’d rather see for myself,” Kakashi told him. “But you wouldn’t happen to know where Kurenai is, would you? I need to talk to her.”

Shikamaru grimaced. “It’s her and Asuma-sensei’s anniversary today, so I don’t think that she’ll appreciate you dropping in on her. Maybe try tomorrow?”

Kakashi sighed. “Thanks.”

Shikamaru shrugged. “No worries. I’ll see you around then.”

Kakashi watched as the younger man turned and split off from him, disappearing into the crowd. His feet started moving towards Iruka’s apartment (even though it was _legally_ theirs didn’t mean that Kakashi felt that way; and besides, it was Iruka that made a place a home, not the other way around). Iruka had probably been tracking his movements for the whole evening, so Kakashi started ordering his thoughts about what he wanted to say.

Iruka opened the door before he could reach out himself.

“Good evening,” Iruka said rather bemusedly. “I made dinner, but it’s been cold for a while.”

“Sorry,” Kakashi murmured, taking off his top layer and hanging them on the hooks he’d installed that morning. “Got caught up in a few things.”

“In the Inuzuka Compound?”

When Kakashi turned to look, there was only open curiosity playing on Iruka’s features. If Kakashi didn’t say anything, then he wouldn’t ask, as his curiosity was enough to prompt a conversation if it wasn’t information he was supposed to know. But it wasn’t; technically, there was no clearance on the fact that Kakashi had children. They just weren’t where people expected them to be, so they weren’t found.

Kakashi sighed heavily, and Iruka’s eyes narrowed; he’d been too loud. “It’s a long story,” is what he said, but really, it wasn’t.

“Well you generally have to start at the beginning of those,” Iruka told him primly, going into the kitchen, probably to heat their food up. “Otherwise it just doesn’t make any sense.”

Kakashi grimaced and fumbled at the knot that tied his hitai-ate up for a moment before putting it down on the kitchen bench with a slight _clink_. “Do you know that there’s a Council mandate saying that if only one member of a clan remains, they must make efforts to have children as soon as they reach eighteen?”

Iruka stilled for a second before he kept stirring the soup in front of him. “Well, no, I didn’t. Is that still in effect?”

“Yes,” Kakashi admitted, looking down at his gloved hands. “Although it hasn’t been brought up for debate in over ten years. Most of the people on the Council don’t realise that it exists; their clans are far too numerous for that to be an issue. But some are a lot smaller.”

Iruka looked up at him slowly, and Kakashi could see him ticking over the information in his mind, before he reached the inevitable conclusion. He put down his spoon and then took a few steps towards Kakashi, who was still staring at his hands.

“Kakashi…” Iruka said slowly. “What are you trying to say?”

“It was my second year of being an ANBU captain, and they wanted to pull me out so that I could _breed_ ,” Kakashi spat, the old bitterness coming out again. Kami, how he’d hated them all. Their false sympathies and how they’d looked concerned while he snarled his outrage at them. How they’d nodded and then told him that he didn’t have a choice. “Of course, I didn’t take well to that. I told them where they could shove it, which only made them even more determined to get me to settle down. I’d had people coming after me for years, both because of the position I would hold as the last Hatake and my role on the Council, and because of the Fourth. Not to mention the Sharingan and everyone who wanted to get some influence over it. That’s all they fucking care about – more influence, more power, more obedient little ninja they can sway to their command.”

Iruka watched as Kakashi got up and started pacing, working out his anger in the quick, sharp steps he took.

“You have children,” Iruka said slowly, prompting Kakashi to bare his teeth.

“Do I? I don’t know. They never saw fit to inform me whether or not their scheme worked out. I could have a hundred kids running around Konoha, blissfully unaware.” His voice rose, anger and sarcasm staining it. “So who knows how many there are.”

Iruka took a few steps towards him and stood in his path so Kakashi had to stand still. Kakashi didn’t look him in the eye, knowing that he couldn’t stand the empathy he’d find there.

“But you found one of them,” Iruka said, voice still level. Kakashi shifted his weight; he hadn’t been sure how Iruka would react, but this guarded stillness wasn’t one of the options that he’d run through on his way here.

“Yeah,” he eventually admitted. “Inuzuka Airi. She came up and asked if I would tutor her on lightning manipulation.”

Iruka’s breath had caught when Kakashi had said who it was. “Airi? But…” Kakashi glanced up to see that Iruka’s eyes were distant; he was clearly running over what he knew about the girl. “She does look like you,” he said, after a few seconds. “But how?”

Kakashi shrugged. “IVF. It was the only compromise that I could come up with. They had grounded me from missions indefinitely, and even the Third could only offer so much support when the entirety of the Council was howling for my blood. Literally.”

Iruka put his hands on his shoulders and leaned their foreheads together. “It’s not your fault,” he murmured.

“It’s my fault that in a few years most of them are going to have to adjust to the fact that one of their parents isn’t actually their parent,” Kakashi muttered, not looking at Iruka.

“It doesn’t sound like that’s your fault either,” Iruka said. He sighed and squeezed Kakashi’s shoulders. “Kakashi. It’s going to be fine. I can disapprove of you not telling me about this later.” Kakashi huffed a little.

“It would have come out eventually,” Kakashi mumbled. “Especially if we bonded.”

Kakashi had half a second to congratulate himself on the change in topic as Iruka cocked an eyebrow.

“You know, the scrolls you gave me had little to say on the actual bonding process,” Iruka said. He wandered back into the kitchen, stirring the pot on the stove. “Just the effects, and even then it was vague.”

“I think all of the scrolls that described it in any detail were burned by the Nidaime,” Kakashi told him. “It’s mostly verbal instruction, nowadays.”

“From who?”

“Tsunade. Or one of the other bonded couples in Konoha. If you want to, I’ll have to track down some real answers. I haven’t asked about the process yet, because I didn’t want to involve Tsunade, and I didn’t want to infringe on another bonded’s privacy.”

“There are others in Konoha?” Iruka asked, eyes alight with interest.

“Several,” Kakashi confirmed. “I don’t know who any of them are, though. It’s information that’s kept private, not written down anywhere, ceremony usually completed with the bond maker and someone as a witness. It’s kept that way so that no one can use the information against them, either through blackmail or just by killing one’s partner when they want the other partner dead. I think Tsunade is the only one who knows all of them.”

“That makes sense,” Iruka said, tugging on his ponytail. “If she goes down… I don’t think we’d have to worry about much else, really.”

Kakashi nodded. “Yeah. So we should be safe on that front, unless we tell someone who can’t keep their mouth shut. Usually, bonded couples don’t tell anyone, anyway. It’s safer.”

Iruka stared at the pot on the stove for a long few seconds. “So you wouldn’t want to tell anyone about us?”

Kakashi leaned his hip against the breakfast bar as he thought. “I wouldn’t tell anyone about the bonding, no, because I’m not an idiot. I’d say that any more than one person knowing a secret meant it isn’t a secret anymore, but I’m going to have to broaden my definition on this one. If it gets known outside of you, me, Tsunade and Shizune and Juuna, I’d say that we’d probably be in danger. There’s an inherent risk in what I’m asking of you, and I’m not going to ignore that. Keeping it quiet is more than common sense – it’s about survival.” Iruka turned to look at him, but Kakashi kept going before he could butt in. “That, of course, is just about the actual bonding. There are quite a few people who know we’re involved, aren’t there? But no one really talks about it because it could put us in danger.”

It would probably put Iruka in more danger than him. For a second, Kakashi felt a twinge in his heart: was he doing the right thing for Iruka? Did he deserve to ask this? Was he just being selfish? He took a quiet breath as Iruka nodded. Iruka would probably hit him over the head if he knew what he was thinking. They’d had _that_ discussion before, and he had decided then that he wasn’t going to put aside whatever happiness he could find for them both in their fucked up world. Neither Iruka nor he deserved that. 

“Kakashi?” Iruka questioned quietly. Kakashi shook his head and put aside his more despondent thoughts to focus on Iruka again.

“No one talks about it, because it could put us in danger. It’d be the same for this. Just something that we keep quiet between ourselves. You wouldn’t go around talking to anyone about how you like it when I go down on you and I –”

“Kakashi.” Iruka interrupted, lifting an eyebrow in warning. “Don’t get off topic.”

“Well you wouldn’t say anything about that part of our relationship, would you?” Kakashi asked, resisting the urge to smile. “It’s the same for this. Just a private part of our relationship that no one really needs to know about.”

Iruka drummed his fingers along the kitchen counter while he tugged at his pony tail restlessly. Kakashi tracked the movement. He’d told Iruka before that it was an easy tell, but Iruka didn’t bother controlling it when it was just the two of them. It was a show of trust – in their profession, things like that could easily get you killed. The fact that Iruka let himself be off guard around Kakashi showed how much he trusted him.

“That makes sense,” Iruka eventually conceded. “But even if no one knew, the consequences and the outcomes of it would still happen. What if one of us gets killed on the field? It’ll be obvious then.”

“I think if one of us is killed, then we won’t really have to worry about it, because without warning, the other one will be dead as well,” Kakashi said. It was strange talking about bonding with Iruka like this. Like it was all hypothetical, a situation on paper for Iruka to solve. He supposed if Iruka decided he didn’t want to go through with it, then it would all just be hypothetical. But maybe it was easier for him to talk about this like it didn’t relate personally to him, like they weren’t talking about one of them dying. When Kakashi separated the situation from himself, he definitely found it much easier to think about, even though he knew that he was just putting off facing the consequences of the bond. If one of them died, the chances were that the other one would go with them.

“That was only one example,” Iruka said, pacing around his small kitchen. “Like, you said that we’d have access to both our natural chakra types. You wouldn’t need to explain anything – the Sharingan covers almost any situation you’d come up with. But I can’t just suddenly tell people that I’ve gained electricity as a third nature – not only would no one believe me, there’d be some really suspicious rumours going around about how I did it. Am I simply not meant to use it? If so, then are there other things that could give me away even if I didn’t do anything differently? Can the Hyuuga see evidence of chakra bonds? Would there be a paper trail? Is there anything that I couldn’t help doing that would still give away that we had bonded?”

“There won’t be any paper trail, and in all the reading and questioning I’ve done, there hasn’t been any reports of anyone being able to sense the differences in chakra besides sensors who could tell the difference because the base chakra had changed. Other than that, it’s just like your normal chakra – no one can tell the difference but us, even when we’re using the bond.”

Iruka still didn’t look satisfied. Kakashi sorted through his questions to find Iruka’s actual concern. When Iruka was deeply, truly worried, he would come up with a thousand questions and criticisms, but there was usually only one core reason why he felt that way. He seemed focused on detection – was he really worried that someone would come after him because of Kakashi? That didn’t seem like him.

Kakashi caught Iruka’s eye as he paced, then resisted the urge to sigh. Of course.

“Iruka,” Kakashi said quietly. Iruka paused, his back to him, then slowly turned around. His eyes were dark, but he still met Kakashi’s gaze head on, not giving an inch, like usual. “Iruka, it’s true that this has its dangers. But you’re not going to be putting me in any more danger than I am usually, every day of my life. If anything, _I’m_ going to be the one putting you in danger – I’m the one who goes on the more dangerous missions.”

“I know that,” Iruka said, but his voice was higher than normal, and Kakashi could hear the underlying stress in his tone.

“This isn’t something that you can do if you’re not certain,” Kakashi told him softly. “It’s alright if you don’t want to. It’s a big ask, I know. It’s me being selfish – of wanting you, in every way that I can have you.”

“It’s not that,” Iruka tried to start, but he cut himself off. “It’s not that I’m not certain, I – I. Kakashi. I’m. It’s.” He grimaced and leaned down to rest his elbows on the counter, running his hands through his hair. “I know that this isn’t something you would do lightly, and I know that you’re serious. And I’m serious as well, really. This is something I’ve been thinking about for as long as I’ve known about it. It keeps me up, thinking about it. What are the pros, cons, consequences, effects, everything.”

Kakashi watched as Iruka paced around his kitchen. “It’s not an easy decision,” Kakashi told him. “But it really just boils down to one thing. Do you want it or not?”

Iruka stopped with his back to Kakashi, still for a long moment. He turned around, and for the life of him, Kakashi wouldn’t have been able to name the emotions he could see in Iruka’s eyes.

Slowly, one corner of his mouth curled up. Kakashi returned it, hoping he knew what that meant.

“It’s not often that you have a better handle on this kind of stuff than me,” Iruka murmured.

“I have been thinking about this for longer,” Kakashi granted.

Iruka smiled at him, shyly, like he hadn’t since they were first getting to know each other. “Well,” he said. “You know, you haven’t actually asked me yet.”

Kakashi blinked. Slowly, he stood up and walked towards Iruka, clasping their hands together. “I haven’t,” he realised. Iruka was still smiling softly. Kakashi drew a deep breath in. “Iruka. We’ve been through a lot together.”

Iruka let out a sound that might have been a giggle. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him.

“What, you’re going to do the whole speech?” Iruka asked, amused.

“What, I can’t?” Kakashi rebutted. Iruka’s smile grew wider. “Ahem. Iruka. We’ve been through a lot together. Thick and thin. You’ve caught me in traps, I’ve saved you from kidnappers, and we’ve managed to stay together for all these years. You like my dogs, I like your cooking.” Kakashi bit his lip. “What I’m trying to say, is that I love you, and I would like to spend the rest of lives together. Will you marry me?”

Iruka looked at him for a long few seconds. “I want you, Kakashi. Always. Of course I will.”

Kakashi closed his eye and breathed, something warm spiralling through his chest.

Always.

 

* * *

 

The breeze ruffled the leaves around him, soft and warm. It hadn’t snowed in over a week, and Kakashi doubted that it would again. Spring was here to stay.

Kakashi flicked his eye up from his book to see Kurenai heading down the road towards where her three genin were gathered. He flared his chakra slightly and was rewarded when her attention was sharply diverted to where he was hiding in the trees.

She looked back at her genin but then bounced up to stand on the branch he was sitting on, looking down at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Is this what you do in your spare time? Hiding out in trees, waiting to make innocent jounin late?”

“I like inflicting my tardiness on others,” Kakashi drawled. Kurenai narrowed her eyes and tensed, ready to jump down. Kakashi snapped his book shut and looked at her. “Yours?” He tilted his head towards the three young ninja.

“Yes,” Kurenai said warily, looking at them. “Why?”

“Hmm,” Kakashi said. “Airi is my daughter.”

Kurenai looked at him for a few long seconds. “You’re not joking,” she said eventually, her voice flat. “How? I don’t remember you ever being off service for more than a month, and that’s always due to injuries.”

“I didn’t carry her,” Kakashi said. He hesitated before he continued. “Do you remember when I was eighteen and I came to you and told you that I had a month of medical leave?”

“When you asked about the plants,” Kurenai said slowly. A flash of anger went over her features before she smoothed out her expression. “I thought you’d been hit by a nasty jutsu on a mission.”

“Well. That’s not what happened.”

“I see.” Kurenai sucked in a breath and let it out slowly.

“I have a vested interest in her,” Kakashi said, when it was clear that Kurenai wasn’t going to say anything, preferring to contemplate the many ways she could kill the people who made Kakashi go through what had happened.

Kurenai shook her head and sighed. “Of course. Why do these things always happen to me?” She looked over at the genin. “She doesn’t know, does she.” It wasn’t a question.

Kakashi grimaced. “No. I was told that they would be told when were old enough to understand.”

Kurenai looked at him, and Kakashi held himself still so he wouldn’t show how nervous she was making him. “And how long have _you_ known?”

“Since yesterday,” Kakashi sighed. “She approached me to ask about lightning manipulation.”

Kurenai bit her lip and looked away from him, thinking. “I suppose you’ve already talked to Tanaka-san.”

“We disagreed energetically about Airi’s future,” Kakashi said, eye smiling. “She said that she already talked to you.”

Kurenai rubbed her forehead, thinking everything over. “Yes. I can see how you’d disagree on that.”

That stung a little, but he hadn’t given any indication that he would feel otherwise, so he buried it and refused to acknowledge that he’d hoped that Kurenai would think better of him.

“She’s very young,” Kurenai told him. “Even if she has the skills, it’s difficult when she has years of growing ahead of her.”

“Just do your best with her, and I can’t ask for more,” Kakashi said. “Technically, I have no say over her anyways; her legal parent is Tanaka.”

“Really?” Kurenai asked. Kakashi shrugged.

“There’s nothing in the paperwork that would give away who she is. I don’t think they expected her to look exactly like me, though.”

Kurenai tilted her head at him. “The hair’s the same, yes. And you have the same colour eyes, although the shape is different.”

“Her eyes are the same as my father’s,” Kakashi told her gruffly. “And the shape of her face is the same as mine. In a few years, I doubt you could look at us without seeing the similarities there.”

Kurenai grimaced. “Alright. I’ll look after her. And if you’re around while I’m giving updates to other parties… Well. I can’t control that.”

Kakashi nodded to her. “I’m going to teach her more about lightning manipulation. She’s got it very strongly; she might master it faster than I did.”

Kurenai startled a little at that, and looked over at her student with new eyes. “I see. I don’t know much about lightning chakra, so you can do that. Just keep me up to date on what you’re going through.”

“Okay,” Kakashi murmured. “You’d better go, before you’re too late.”

Kurenai didn’t move. “If you only found out who she was yesterday, then how do you know if you have any other kids running around?”

Kakashi looked away from her, unable to meet her eyes. “I was to be told at the same time they were.”

“They?” Kurenai questioned. “So you think there are more.” She didn’t say anything else until it was clear that Kakashi wasn’t going to respond to that. “I know that things were hard, all those years ago,” she continued, softer. “But now is not then. Tsunade must know who they are. Go and ask her, and I’m sure she’ll tell you.”

“When they know is soon enough for me to know,” Kakashi said roughly. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to you,” Kurenai pointed out, and Kakashi snapped, turning on her with a snarl.

“It _matters to them_ ,” he spat. “They have homes and families already. I have nothing to offer, besides destabilisation and confusion. Do you think that Airi is going to be happy when she finds out that her mother isn’t related to her? There is more than me at stake here, and I am the party with far less to lose.”

Kurenai had her eyebrows pinched, looking at him in concern. “You matter as well,” she told him calmly. “Don’t let yourself forget that.”

With that, she jumped out of the tree and headed towards her students. Kakashi let his head fall back with a thump against the tree and closed his eye, waiting for the tightness in his throat to leave.

Obito’s eye wept the tears he didn’t allow himself to shed.

 

* * *

 

Kakashi went to Tsunade the next day. She seemed unsurprised to see him, gesturing him into her office quickly. She dismissed all the ANBU inside her office, and Kakashi felt Boar’s eyes on the back of his neck as he closed the door behind him. Snail and Tiger had been outside Tsunade’s door today, so he hadn’t been able to check up on Sasuke. Thinking about the young nin only gave him a headache most of the time, so he pushed thoughts of his errant student out of his head as the last ANBU closed the door behind him.

“You don’t have anything else to tell me about Grass?” Tsunade asked, but there was a lightness in her tone that Kakashi didn’t normally hear outside of when she was drunk. There was no glass or bottle lying around (that he could see) so she must just be amused.

“No, nothing else,” Kakashi told her. “I’m not here about that.”

“Ah,” Tsunade replied, folding her hands under her chin like she did when she wanted to think seriously about something. “You talked things over with Iruka, then?”

“Yes,” Kakashi said, taking a step closer. “I’ve managed to convince him that he should bond with me.” He eye smiled at Tsunade, but she just frowned, eyes going distant as she began to turn over everything in her mind.

“You know, it’s probably not the smartest course of action,” Tsunade warned him. Kakashi shrugged.

“Since when have I been called wise? We just want you to approve, before we take the next step.”

“Technically, this is listed as ‘personal’ legally,” Tsunade told him. “There’s nothing I can do to stop you. Meddling in the personal lives of my ninja would set a nasty precedent.”

“Maa, we thought that not pissing you off would be the wisest choice,” Kakashi said, voice dropping most of its lightness to become serious. “Tsunade. We both want this. Iruka isn’t stupid; he knows that this will mean that he gets a serious curtailing of his ability to leave the village. We’re both aware of my status as a potential candidate for the next Hokage, and he’s willing to take the risks that accompany anyone finding out about us.”

“So you don’t intend to make your relationship public?” Tsunade asked, leaning forward. “That seems… Like an unusual choice, considering you both.”

“There are four other bonded couples in Konoha, and yet I don’t know who they are,” Kakashi pointed out. “We have no intention of making the exact state of our relationship public. Doing so would be extremely idiotic, and I value both of our lives far above anything else. There are already a few people who know that we’re involved, and I don’t mind if that number gets a bit bigger. But generally, it’ll be between ourselves, like most relationships between ninja.”

Tsunade leaned back to sprawl in her chair, looking at the ceiling. “The Council would crucify me if they find out that I let you do this.”

“ _I’m_ part of the Council,” Kakashi said. “Let me deal with anyone who disagrees there, if they even find out. Like you said, there’s nothing you can do anyway. Iruka and I can decide outside this room, and yet we’d appreciate you approving it first. After all, there has to be a third party to help with the bonding process, and there are few people that both of us trust more than you.”

“You want me to be your bond maker?” Tsunade asked, a small smile edging at the corner of her mouth. “Gah. Fine; if Iruka-sensei will agree to stay inside the village unless he is either with you or an escort to protect him, then I’ll approve it. That means missions outside the village are generally not going to be options for him anymore,” Tsunade warned.

Kakashi nodded. “We already talked about it. Iruka agreed that he didn’t want to take any risks, although he protested that he could look after himself. I managed to convince him to give up any missions ranked above C that aren’t in the village; I don’t think he’ll agree to an escort unless I’m there. He said that if you try to stop him from going on C Ranks, there will be a mysterious instance where all your paperwork from the last few months gets misplaced. And you’ll have to do it all again.”

“I’d make him do it all again,” Tsunade growled. “But I suppose that’s fair enough. Get him to agree to have only D Ranked and No Combat listed C Ranked and above, and I’ll be your bond maker. Get it?”

Kakashi grinned at her from under his mask. “Yeah. Thank you.”

“Ah, don’t go round saying that. Everyone’ll think I’m a big softie.” Tsunade rolled her eyes. “I’m just glad to see you happy, that’s all.”

“Those two statements contradict each other, Tsunade-sama.” Kakashi ducked under the stapler she threw at him, hearing it shatter against the door behind him.

“Get out of here, brat,” Tsunade said, rolling her eyes. When he didn’t move, she lifted an eyebrow. “Was there something else?”

Kakashi hesitated. He wasn’t supposed to know this, and yet it seemed wrong not to bring it up with Tsunade. “Inuzuka Airi.”

“Ah.” Tsunade let out a deep sigh. “I understand why Hiruzen didn’t tell you their names when you were younger, but keeping it all from you now does seem ridiculous, doesn’t it? Is she the only one you know?”

Kakashi nodded once. Tsunade didn’t move from where she was, studying him intently. “I’m surprised that you didn’t just find out the information yourself. It seems unlike you.”

Kakashi looked away from her. How could he say that he’d thought about it, but had never followed through? What right did he have to insert himself in a child’s life when he would only create strife? Unrest? He’d be a shitty parental role model, and he knew it. After all, look how his genin team turned out.

“Especially with possible… other interests at work.” Tsunade looked like she had just bitten into a lemon.

“You can say his name. Danzou wasn’t given a chance to interact with my kids – I got that promise out of the Third, at least. He made sure that officially, he wasn’t doing anything shady, and unofficially, I’ve always kept an eye on him. He knows that I’d love to slam him with real proof of his actions, so he stayed away from tampering with anyone that I could pay attention to.”

Tsunade rested her fingers under her chin and looked at him. Kakashi refused to look away. “I can tell you about them, if you want,” Tsunade said, voice gentle. “The law about children is a regrettable necessity. Have you asked Iruka about her grades? She was two years younger than most of her class, but she came third out of the whole year. She will be a fine addition to our forces.”

Kakashi didn’t say anything, wishing he could burn a hole in Tsunade’s office wall with his gaze to let out whatever it was that was pounding on his ribcage. Tsunade was still watching him, and Kakashi felt very vulnerable under her eyes. “I told Kurenai about her. She’ll watch out for her.”

Tsunade rubbed a hand over her forehead. “There were seven of them, if I remember right. Four girls and three boys. Airi is the eldest, although they were all born within a few months of each other.”

Kakashi soaked up the information, then examined it, unsure how to apply it. Seven. There were seven carefree souls out there that in some way, belonged to him. He wanted to find out everything, but at the same time, wanted to know nothing.

“Two of the boys are civilians,” Tsunade continued, slowly, letting him stop her at any time. “I talked to them myself, but they weren’t interested in a career as a ninja. I already had five from you, so I let them be; their children, perhaps, will come to us with a desire to earn a hitai-ate. The youngest is living with a foster mother, after her father was killed. In the Uchiha massacre. The only reason she wasn’t killed with the rest of them was because only Hiruzen knew her bloodlines. He knew something was coming, and kept her a secret from the entire clan.”

Kakashi wrenched his head to face her. “ _What_?” He grated, trying to keep his voice from shouting. “You mixed my genes with an Uchiha?”

Tsunade grimaced. “It wasn’t what I would have done, but yes. She’s the only one besides Sasuke in the village, now. She doesn’t know her heritage – I was going to let her grow up a little bit first. She’s only just turned ten.”

Kakashi struggled with that for a long few seconds. “You… With Sasuke…”

“Hiruzen didn’t tell you when you took up mentoring Sasuke, likely because she’s your daughter. By the time I realised, well. Sasuke is still here, so there’s no need to push for her to get recognised, not yet. I was going to inform her that she’s an Uchiha when she gained genin status. After that, there’s a chance that she could develop a Sharingan, and everything would have come out anyway. I was going to wait another year or two and tell Sasuke at the same time I told you.”

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair to try and stop his hand from shaking. He was suddenly glad that Hawk hadn’t been outside, as if the wards on the walls weren’t enough to keep him from hearing this conversation. “What… about the others?”

“Four of them are in the Academy. Two have fast tracked, and are likely to graduate within a year. The youngest, the Uchiha…” She narrowed her eyes, thinking. “Chihiro. She’s the top of her class, and I think she’ll have a chance of graduating with the rest of them. The civilians were born into merchant families who supply Konoha. It’s likely why they didn’t want to leave. Three of the girls were born into clans, the other girl and the boy born to parents with a shinobi background who couldn’t conceive otherwise.”

Obito’s eye was beginning to throb. “I… see.”

“If you want to know anything else, go and see Finch and ask for record 1125a. I’ll talk to her this afternoon so she knows to give to it you, and no one else.”

Kakashi nodded stiffly. “Thank you,” he said, voice emotionless as he could make it as he turned to the door.

Tsunade crooked a smile and said, “Anytime, brat,” as her parting comment to him as he swung the door shut. He resisted the urge to eye smile at the miffed looking ANBU on either side of the door, winking at Boar instead. Iruka had told him about that ANBU’s undue interest in him, and Kakashi was more determined than ever to find out who he was.

Kakashi turned to head back to Iruka’s ( _their_? It felt like it could almost be a _their_ ) apartment. He’d let Iruka know about Tsunade’s restrictions, and he’d tell him about what else she had said. The clouds overhead were threatening snow, but he thought that it might be the last snowstorm of the season. It was getting warmer every day, and the last snowfall had almost completely melted before it had touched the ground.

He scuffed his feet against the ground, letting himself make some noise as he turned down the street that would lead _home_.

 

* * *

 

Iruka bit his lip nervously. Kakashi was standing next to him, their arms touching lightly, a reassurance. He scrunched up his forehead and thought – was this the best option? Was it a good idea? He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Kakashi, however long that would be. They had dangerous jobs and led dangerous lifestyles, but that shouldn’t mean that they couldn’t have lasting relationships. He _wanted_ to be close to Kakashi, to support him and make him know every day that he was loved. While this might not be something that he needed, per se, it was definitely something that he wanted.

Iruka couldn’t find any doubts inside himself. They were going to go through with this. The ANBU standing outside the Hokage’s office twitched, and then Tsunade’s vibrant green chakra moved until she was standing before the door. It opened, and Tsunade stalked out, Shizune following at her heels. Iruka thought he might have seen something flicker in her eyes, her posture soften, her mouth curl up, but then again, he might be mistaken. He didn’t know Tsunade as well as he could.

“You two ready?” She asked, looking them up and down critically. They both nodded. Kakashi had made a lot of food this morning, and Iruka was still feeling full, several hours later. Apparently having a lot to eat before the ceremony was a good idea. “Then let’s go.”

The walk to the hospital was broken often when Tsunade stopped to flag down various people that she needed to talk to for a few seconds. The normally short walk stretched out, and Iruka was just about to get fidgety when Kakashi brushed against his arm lightly. Iruka looked over to see Kakashi flashing a small smile at him. Feeling reassured, they made it to the hospital without any problems.

There was already a room set up for them. Juuna-sensei was standing outside one of the patient rooms along a deserted corridor. The two ANBU that flanked Tsunade took up positions at either end of the corridor, the message clear: do not enter.

Shizune closed the door after they’d entered. Juuna smiled at him reassuringly from where she was hovering in the corner of the room. He could feel the chakra she already had gathered around her hands, poised to act if anything out of the norm happened. While he didn’t know her particularly well, he knew that Kakashi trusted her. Kakashi’s trust was so rarely given out, that Iruka knew that anyone who he let in was worthy of Iruka’s own trust. He didn’t mind her being here.

Tsunade fussed around them for a few seconds, positioning them where she wanted on an intricate seal that spread its way across the floor. Iruka itched with the desire to study it more, but patiently told himself that while Kakashi would probably laugh if he said he wanted to pause things while he examined the seal, Tsunade probably would not. She probably had more than enough on her plate today without having to take extra time for this.

When she was satisfied, Tsunade shooed Shizune over to stand next to Juuna just outside the seal. She then returned to her own position in the seal, a curious lack of symbols around her feet. It was obvious that she wasn’t meant to be a part of the process – she was here as a facilitator, and nothing else.

“Ahem,” she cleared her throat. “This is like any other marriage that I’d officiate, except well, the whole bonding process. You two had better be glad that I’m allowed to do this.” Her harsh words were offset by her teasing tone. “Anyway, let’s get on with this, I have files to read. Hatake Kakashi, Clan Head of the Hatake Clan, do you take Umino Iruka to be your lawfully wedded husband and soulmate, knowing that the bond will be until you die?”

“I do,” Kakashi said, audible happiness under his words.

“And Umino Iruka, do you take Hatake Kakashi, Clan Head of the Hatake Clan, to be your lawfully wedded husband and soulmate, knowing that the bond will be until you die?”

Iruka looked up. Kakashi’s eye was dark, but there was a lightness to it that Iruka didn’t see often.

“I do,” he replied seriously. Kakashi’s eye curled up happily.

“Alright you two, stop being so soppy,” Tsunade growled good naturedly. “Lie down, so I can finish this off. I can only put up with this mushiness for so long.”

Iruka couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he and Kakashi settled themselves down seals that spiralled across the floor. Shizune was smiling broadly at them both. Iruka finally dragged his eyes off Kakashi, looking up at the ceiling. Their joined hands lay between them quietly.

“I’m going to start now. I hope you’re both ready for this.” Iruka nodded, and felt Kakashi echoing the movement from where he was lying. Tsunade settled between them and Iruka closed his eyes when she poked his forehead.

Iruka felt the chakra within her shimmer for a second, and then everything went dark. He could see a speck of light in the distance, so he moved towards it, recognising the vibrant white light. He reached out with everything he had, towards Kakashi.

Kakashi reached back – there was a thin wall that separated them, and Iruka puzzled at it for a moment before he realised it was Tsunade. Then the soft green of her chakra shimmered and left.

Tsunade disappeared, and he was drowning in Kakashi, Kakashi, _Kakashi._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, I wasn't going to update this until I'd finished Gladiolus, but since that's been going for about a year now and I'm still no closer (Iruka why you gotta be like this) I'm just gonna finish Iris so y'all don't have to wait forever for it.   
> If you're new, hi! If you're an older reader, hi as well! Hope you enjoyed this fic :D
> 
> PS: click on the next work button to see the first chapter of Gladiolus!!


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